The King Shackled By the Black Chain of Heaven
by Fangking2
Summary: This is a fic influenced by Fujin of Shadow's 'Family'. Ichika and Madoka are twins, but one day in a certain incident he was taken from her. Now separated,Iichika is with his mother who is none other than the leader of Phantom Task. Years after serving her, Ichika found a way to get away from her by hiding within himself, deep within his flesh and becoming one with the madness...
1. Chapter 1

This fic was made under the influence of Fujin of Shadow's IS fic…Family.

The King Shackled By the Black Chain of Heaven

Ch1 The Ending That Brought Him Back to the Beginning.

A dark warehouse in the middle of nowhere was now occupied by several men in black surrounding the warehouse on the inside and the outside.

These men showed no hint of what organization they belonged to and only showed their clean cut dress and suits. They wore large black shades and ear pieces.

These men have a two part mission…

Part one is to kidnap their target and bring him to the warehouse.

Part two is to hold him there until their boss comes to pick him up…Oh by the way, the circumstances forced them to bring one more for the ride…The younger sister of the target.

In the middle of the room were two small figures kneeling down and holding onto each other. One was a taller 10 year old boy who held his sister to comfort her and the other was said sister, who was crying on her brother's shoulder.

These two are the Orimura twins…Ichika and Madoka.

They are the youngest of the Orimura family and were raised by their internationally famous Ice Queen herself, Orimura Chifuyu.

They were kidnapped on their way home from school and now were under the mercy of strangers with firearms…in JAPAN!

"Ichi-ni, I'm scared…What's going to happen to us?" the young girl inquired fearfully. She was around ten years old with a small ponytail of dark hair. She wore a simple yellow dress with no fancy decorations…It was a simple dress for what was supposed a simple day with her brother…

"Shhhh…Don't worry Madoka. I'm sure help is on the way." Said the little boy who also looked to be ten years old. He wore a white t-shirt and shorts…He had dark hair like his sister, but his was shorter and messier.

"How do we know that? Chi-Neechan is in the middle of a tournament and Hyuang Oba chan and Gotanda Oba Chan might not realize we've been kidnapped."

Though Ichika had no reply to the fair point his sister brought up, he still smiled down at his sister and stroked her head.

"Don't worry Madoka, Onii-chan is here. If push comes to shove…I'll make sure you 're alright."

Ichika looked around and sighed inwardly…There was no way out…

The men who kidnapped them are numerous and not showing any sign of weakness. They cover all areas inside the building, and from what he saw, they are changing shifts on guarding the outside as well.

He also saw a glimpse of firearms on the undersides of their suits and given how many men he'd seen, that was one too many guns for two ten year olds to go against.

"I am so damn weak…If this was Chifuyu-nee she would have wasted these guys…" thought Ichika, lamenting his failure and weakness.

Suddenly his senses, enhanced by adrenaline, picked up the faint sound of a car coming to a stop.

"Hey! Boss is here! Bring that brat." Ordered one of the leading men in black. One of the brutes grabbed Ichika by the arm and pulled, however Ichika refused to let his sister go.

"Oi! Come on brat!" the man grunted as he pulled so hard Ichika almost thought his arm had been dislocated. The man tossed him to the floor near the entrance.

_Thud!_

Ichika rolled on the ground at the sudden pain, but he didn't let out a single noise as his sister came running.

"Ichi-ni!"

Ichika quickly brought his uninjured arm around Madoka to reassure her. At that moment…The entrance to the warehouse opened. From the opened entrance the glaring light of the sun entered and many footsteps were heard as a large group of women in identical uniforms entered the room and surrounded the children.

The glaring bright light of the sun hit Ichika on the eye and he held his sister to his chest to turn her away from the sudden light and by result he himself was facing the light…and the person casting a large shadow over it.

"Is he here? Is he here!" a woman's voice rang frantically, startling the two children. But Ichika ignored the shutter and looked up to see the person who came in.

Ichika froze when he saw the owner of the voice.

And the speaker froze upon seeing Ichika.

"There you are…My Ichika…." Said the woman as she walked towards him slowly wearing a look of disbelief which only Ichika could see.

The grip holding Madoka loosened for a second, then Ichika held her even tighter.

"I-Ichi-ni?" questioned Madoka, but Ichika said nothing.

Ichika blood had frozen…his young, but very sharp mind which has been matured through his older sister's teaching, his life without any parents, and responsibility as the only male in the family flared as he analyzed the facts given to him…and came up with an answer.

An answer he was hoping was a mistake…Because if he is correct…He doesn't know whether he would hug or kill this person.

"You…Just who are you? Why…Why do you look like that?" asked Ichika as he forced himself to not break eye contact. He can't falter now. This person…This person is dangerous.

Something Madoka couldn't see, so she didn't know what made her brother so tense.

"Why?...Well I always looked like this…Just as why you look like yourself and that girl in your arm looks like her….I am me…" answered the woman that only Ichika could see. She smiled down at the child who was so tensed…so desperate to protect his sister…Ah…He is everything she imagined him to be…

"While I am glad to you are very sharp…I'd appreciate it if you let go of that reject."

The sound was so soft and warm that it was unexpected in this scenario.

However Ichika tensed at her words…Because he knew why she looks like that…Why her voice seems to stir his him so…That is because he must have heard her voice before…A long, long time ago.

"I refuse!"

"…Pity."

The woman, her image still shrouded by light, turned to face the men in black. She looked around the warehouse and saw the state the kids were in and frowned.

"…Who is in charge here?"

"Ma'am!" one of the men in black stepped up to her smartly, when suddenly the woman pulled out a silver pistol and aimed between his startled eyes.

Ichika instantly pulled his sister's face into his chest, covering her eyes, and holding her tight.

_BANG!_

_THUD!_

The warehouse was silent.

"I told you to bring him back to me unharmed…But it is clear my words were not taken seriously."

She turned back to the boy, ignoring his sister.

"Why did you bring us here?" Ichika inquired.

"Not 'us' my dear…Only you."

"Then what do you want from me?"

The woman smiled so charmingly Ichika felt his resolve falter.

"…You and all that you represent…and for you to go even beyond that." Suddenly, she moved faster than he could react and grabbed his arm. She then pushed aside his sister and pulled him towards her. From behind her one of her blond, more useful subordinates walked towards Madoka to restrain her.

Madoka let out a startled cry upon being separated from her brother. She tried to get back up and run to Ichika, but she was stopped by the blond-haired underling.

"If you know what is good for you girl, you will stand still."

Madoka stared back at her with defiant eyes, but the blond woman didn't even bat an eye. She pushed Madoka onto her stomach and held her head down, turning her face away from her brother and the one currently in charge.

"Oh don't be silly Squall, I don't need the little girl…Kill her." She might have been talking about the weather given how little care her voice held.

"Yes milady." The newly identified Squall replied, leveling her gun at Madoka's head.

Before she could pull the trigger a shout rang out across the room.

"Touch my sister and I'll bite off my tongue!"

All the women in the room stared at the boy he shouted out as tensed up…ready to bit his tongue off.

"Your goal is me right? Well I am not going to go with strangers so easily! If you want me then take a corpse!" The boy's brown eyes contained fear, anger, and panic, but they were serious…He is willing to commit suicide if his sister is murdered.

However, the leader suddenly crossed the distance between them, knelt down, and stuffed her fingers in his mouth to prevent him from following through with his threat.

"Brave my dear, very brave. That man would have done the same for me if I was powerless…which I never am."

Ichika glared and bit down hard, but the woman didn't show any signs of pain…She simply stared into his eyes….Those eyes…It's those eyes. Those eyes and her face…Her scent, and her sheer presence…So grand, so powerful, so beautiful. So much like…No perhaps even greater than…Chifuyu-Nee's

She narrowed her eyes at Madoka who was sobbing and struggling against Squall's grip. Her dress is now a real mess and her face was covered with dirt and scratches.

"Why does she warrant such passion…Such love…She and the older failure…"

She turned back to the boy.

"Why Ichika?"

Ichika stared at the woman and slowly lost his strength. The woman's sheer presence is weakening his resolve…Threats are useless…But he still needs to secure Madoka's safety…This is his responsibility as her brother.

He slowly pulled his head back and removed the woman's fingers out of his mouth. He tasted her blood on his tongue, and was suddenly filled with shame. Why? This woman hurt them and kidnapped them…So why did he felt bad for hurting her?

Why…Why is this person back…After all these years…Why is she back?

He wanted to know why…Why?...

"She is my sister…"

"Does that warrant you killing yourself? Your life for her? She is a reject that has no potential Ichika…The two of you may have born together, but clearly you are the jewel and she is the mud."

"No one asked you!" Ichika's eyes flared back to life for a second, but it stopped and recede back to cold and glazed look.

"…I'll make a deal. Let my sister go back to my older sister unharmed…And I'll come with you willingly."

"NI-CHAN! NO!"

"QUIET MADOKA! YOU JUST LAY DOWN THERE YOU HEAR ME! LISTEN TO YOUR BROTHER!"

Madoka's eyes watered at the harsh yelling from her brother who never before yelled at her….Heck, he'd never even gotten mad at her before!

Ichika looked at the woman-no...His…His…

He stepped closer to the woman and whispered into her ear…So quiet that Madoka didn't hear him.

"Oka…Oka-sama…" he pleaded with the most respectable tone and wording he could muster. He pleaded with his head low…defeated.

The woman smiled. Oh, how she dreamed of hearing that word…mother…Oh, how she was deprived of it when her wretched eldest took her treasures away. Her baby boy…That person's son…

She smiled gently with the glow of a mother and knelt down to her son.

"…Well, while I don't like a reminder of my failure walking in this world, I have been known to kill on whims and show mercy on whims as well….Very well." She hugged her son.

"She will live. But you will come back to me…Right where you belong."

"…Why did you leave us?" He whispered into her ear, a silent trail of tears running down his face. The shame of his weakness killing him inside.

"I never left you…I never wanted to…No…You were taken from me…But now I have you back." She released her son from her embrace.

"Squall…where is my first failure?"

"She will reach us in 15 minutes." Squall replied as she held down Madoka and kept her mouth firmly closed.

The leader of Phantom Task nodded with ease and turned to her son.

"Let us leave."

But before they could Madoka removed Squall's hand on her mouth.

"Ichi-ni! COME BACK! I'M SCARED ONI-CHAN! DON'T LEAVE ME! DON'T LEAVE ME!"

As Madoka cried her eyes out Ichika felt his heart break into million pieces, but their mother…No, the woman who only viewed him as her child was not about to stay any longer….He was running out of time.

"Madoka!"

The girl looked up at him.

"I'm sorry…But…But it doesn't matter what happens. I am your brother. It's…It's my duty to make sure you're okay….Listen to Chifuyu-nee…Study hard…Make more trustworthy friends and don't get into fights with Rin or Ran-chan. Always brush your teeth before bed and eat healthily. And most importantly…"

The trembling boy turned to his sister.

"Live…"

Madoka felt ice grip her heart. Instinctively knowing something horrifying was about to happen, she screamed.

"ICHI-NII! WHAT ARE YOU SAYING? DON'T SAY IT! DON'T SAY SUCH SAD THINGS! ONI-CHAN! COME BACK! MADOKA…MADOKA IS SCARED! ICHI-!"

She was knocked out cold with a swift blow to the neck by Squall.

Ichika was about to run to his sister's fallen form, but stopped himself.

"Are you ready to go?" asked his mother.

"Yes…Mother."

The three individuals and many men in black swiftly disappeared from the scene…And not even ten minutes later a white IS crashed into the warehouse…To find only one of her siblings there.

"OH GOD! Madoka!" Chifuyu quickly brought her sister into her arms.

"Madoka! Madoka! What happened! Where is Ichika?"

There was no reply…But Chifuyu know…There is no one there…But the two of them.

"No….no….NO! ICHIKA!" she screamed out loud…but her brother was nowhere in sight.

In a secret location…A single boy entered a large office. He was now wearing some proper, clean clothes.

He had black hair that was spiky and yet calm on the side. He has deep brown eyes that look deep into your soul and now standing straight in front of someone that can kill him with a simple wave of her hand.

This woman took him away from his family and home…Cruelly separated him from his life and forced him to trade his freedom for his sister's safety…

This person is…The one who gave birth to him.

His mother…

"Are you satisfied with the facility? I hope no one was rude or inappropriate to you?" his newly discovered mother inquired of him from her position.

"No…Nothing is wrong…" The boy's voice was hollow, the recent revelation having torn apart his heart.

"Very well Ichika. I am Orimura Reiha…The 26th head of the Orimura clan and the leader of Phantom Task." She stood up from her seat. She was tall, wore a pink and blue Kimono of very high quality and had a long pony tail just like her oldest daughter, only her hair was much longer and reached down to her legs.

Her beauty was immeasurable and her grace unquestionable…it is clear where Chifuyu and Madoka got their looks from.

"I am your mother. And you Ichika are now my heir and the future 27th successor to Orimura family…and the Phantom Task's next leader. Welcome home…My little crown prince." She intoned, her voice filled with such joy…such pride…

Ichika could do nothing more than stare…and clench his fists in fear and awe.

This is the beginning…The beginning of a mad dance of drama, love, war, greed, passion, ambition…and sheer madness.

This is the tragedy…of the Orimura clan.


	2. Chapter 2

The King Shackled By the Black Chain of Heaven

* * *

Ch2 Reaching Out…From the Cage of Madness

* * *

Phantom Task Base…Orimura Clan's Home Base

The base's location is unknown.

Its capability is unknown.

The extension of the organization is unknown.

Its reach is unknown.

Its operatives are unknown.

Its goal is unknown.

Its leader is…Orimura Reiha.

"You are going be trained by me." Said leader stated as she stepped into a dark training ground containing many melee weapons and firearms scattered around it. The room was like an ancient training ground with dojou mats and decorative scrolls, flags, swords, armors, and Japanese decorations.

She was now in a fancy robe with light make-up and an old style umbrella in hand.

Ichika on the other hand was standing in the middle of the dojou floor carrying two wooden kodachi. His right hand held one wooden short sword by the edge of the guard. His left hand held the other wooden kodachi in a reverse grip.

Ichika was trained by his sister and the Shinonono family…But he fears that nothing he learned will do him any good here.

"Your skills are…lacking, but it's okay. At least your older sister didn't sabotage your training completely…"

Reiha pointed her folded wooden umbrella at her son and smiled.

"Mommy will train you personally. You are going to be a strong man…who will one day bring new glory to the Orimura clan."

Ichika felt a shiver run down his spine. Despite his fears, though, he tensed, and then attacked…He didn't dare leave the training ground unharmed…And in that he was most wise indeed.

…The secret organization Phantom Task…

Phantom Task's leader is Orimura Reiha…And her successor is…

Her one and only acknowledged child and son…Orimura Ichika.

4 years later…

The room was cold and dark…but it was also filled with life…Not life like plants or wildlife…Just intense bursts of killing intent and smell of sweat and blood.

Ichika had trained with his mother for 4 years…And he is nothing like what he was 2 years ago.

Ichika was standing in the middle of a training ground. The area was dark and silent…the ground is made of a soft material. One's steps can be silent if they are careful enough.

Ichika himself is now a 14 year old teen currently wearing a black muscle shirt and dark cargo pants. Around him, he was surrounded by a group of man and woman…Each trained to be deadly fighters and agents of Phantom Task.

Ichika opened his eyes and his face revealed nothing…His face was like chiseled stone, and his eyes were empty of emotion.

"…Come."

A fist came at him from the right and Ichika brought up his right arm to block the punch by parrying it aside with a slashing motion. He stepped in immediately to slam his left palm into his attacker's chest and followed up with a right fist to the throat.

His attacker fell to his knees and hacked up saliva and blood from the blows to his vitals and he was silenced with a swift knee to the head.

Ichika sensed an attacker from behind and wordlessly spun around to block a chop to his neck with his arm and blocked a low knee to his groin with his own knee. He saw that his attacker was a female around the age of 20 with a mild build…So he went easy on her.

_Whoosh!_

He grabbed hold of her wrist, redirected her momentum and threw her over his shoulder, slamming her into another attacker coming up behind him.

Ichika suddenly dropped low to dodge a punch to his head and kicks from two different attackers. From his low stance he supported himself with his hands and did a breakdance style combo with brutal kicks to the attacker's lower body and legs.

He stopped his complex dance….

_WHOOSH! POW! POW! SNAP! WHOOSH! WHHOOSH! POW! VOOSH!_

…And switched to a brutal hand to hand combo in which he struck the attackers on the chests, shoulders, ribs, and faces with a well-placed combination back and forth between them.

Ichika's last attacker was a woman in all black. She jumped and went into offensive with various combinations which Ichika blocked. The sound of their flesh making contact echoed around the dark room, but Ichika showed no discomfort or strain from fighting multiple opponents.

Their fight was like a scene in a classic fighting movie. They were fast, graceful, and powerful as they continued their deadly dance.

_WHOOSH!_

Suddenly the attacking woman went in with a knife hand thrust, aiming for Ichika's eyes, but he slid back with his arms crossed. One hand opened in a scooping curve and another balled into a fist.

_WHOOSH! VOOSH! WHOOSH!_

In a powerful burst of movement Ichika snapped his fist to her chest, stomach, and the chin. His fist shot like a whip to snap at her, but not punch. However the back of a hand is still a heavy set of bone, and it heavily bruised her chest and stomach. Her chin on the other hand…

_POW!_

_Thud!_

It rattled her brain with the impact. Her vision blurred, her world spun about her as her eyes rolled up and she collapsed.

_Clap. Clap. Clap._

Ichika's expression didn't change from its cool and icy look as he turned to greet his mother.

"Wonderful job Ichika. As expected of the 27th heir of the Orimura-clan, and my son." Praised his mother as she smiled down to him, quite different her normal bored or stern expression she show to her underlings. Only when she is with her son does she seem like a human…despite the fact that she is a monster with a shape of human.

"…The clan law is for the oldest child to inherit mother…The position of the heir or should I say heiress belong to Chifu-!" Ichika was cut off as a thin trail of laser pass his face…Without leaving a burn mark.

"Ssssshhhhhh…Now Ichika, you know how mommy doesn't want to be reminded of her failures…So no mentioning the taboos or mommy will do mean things to you…No, wait I change my mind…Try and receive your punishment."

"No, thank you…" he replied as he turned around.

He observed the defeated sparring partners- mostly women- as they were brought to the infirmary.

"Mother is very impressed Ichika…Normally men these days can't beat women."

"You and I both know that a woman's strength lies in her mind and the Infinite Stratos…Without it they are back to being dominated by males in terms of physical prowess. I cannot defeat a woman in an IS…That is my limitation."

"Nonsense…" Reiha said as she pulled out a file.

The file was projected from a hand held device and it displayed Ichika's picture with his biographical info. The charts and data with his DNA-map appeared and certain words were highlighted.

"…My test results?"

"Yes. We found something interesting though….Something we've never seen before."

Ichika 's brows rose, the first sign of emotion he has shown so far. There is nothing that his mother doesn't already know or is informed about. So if it's something important and she never knew about it before…it's either serious or deadly. Like his mother (or his sister) during their times of the month…He will never suffer through that mood swing again, even if he has to strip and cuddle them (Guess who) until they feel better.

"And your findings?"

"Read it." She said, handing him the device.

Ichika's expression was cold as ice; however one eyebrow lifted a fraction when he saw the report.

"An IS? I have the aptitude for an IS?" questioned Ichika, a look of bewilderment on his face directed at his mother…Well bewilderment for him, considering he merely raised his eyebrows a small bit and tilted his head slightly to the side.

"Oh yes, I ordered my scientists to make a customized IS just for you…If you have such a high aptitude and are a male…My son, you will not only conquer the earthy world, but also the world of women…without firing a single shot. They will instead surrender to you."

Ichika's brown eyes were sharp and cold…devoid of any emotion. However, his right hand curled into a fist and his breathing sharped…

_"Perhaps this is my way out…."_

1 year later…Ichika age 15.

"Many of you may know me so I'll cut to the chase."

15 years old Ichika wore a black long tailed coat with a black suit and tie as he walked into the meeting room.

"From this day forward I will lead this branch of Phantom Task…From now on you ladies will be my guards and I your commander."

"Hai! Ichika-sama!" replied the large group of well-dressed, beautiful, and deadly women.

"You may feel that serving a man is a disgrace for decorative agents and pilots of IS…However…" he raised his hand up to show them a decorative tattoo.

The marking was in shape of three curvy waves that was in circular wave.

…It was the standard form of Ichika's personal IS…The Kuroshiki.

Black Knight

"I am willing to accept any and all challenges…any takers?"

The women in the room muttered under their breath and one by one stepped up.

"Very well." Ichika looked around and felt the tension in the air…And one of his new subordinates stood out.

A woman with a dark skin tone and long silver hair. She seemed to be around 16 or perhaps 17 years old. She wore a black Phantom Task uniform and had riveting silver pale eyes. Her front bangs were long enough to cover the right side of her face, but her left side revealed her beauty.

Her eyes were not filled with fear or disgust…She was calm and in control…

"What is your name?" asked Ichika.

The silver haired woman stepped up and saluted.

"Ryuuzetsu Shion-desu."

"Ryuuzetsu…Shion….Tell me Ryuuzetsu Shion, would you care to fight me?"

Shion's triple ringed eyes widened slightly.

Then she nodded and stepped up alongside her fellow contenders…and they marched toward the IS training ground.

That day several IS pilots from Phantom Task was defeated…Each out matched and their power useless against him. Their weapons were his weapon…Their might was his might….They never stood a chance against the first ever attempt by Phantom Task to create a custom personal 3rd generation IS…The Kurokishi.

After the duels Ichika said only one thing.

"I am Orimura Ichika…and welcome to my personal honor guard and my squadron. Welcome to Knight Phantasm. And Ryuuzetsu Shion…report to my office tomorrow morning. I have a job for you."

So that was how Knight Phantasm…Orimura Ichika's personal squad of IS pilots was born…And that is how Ryuuzetsu Shion, one of Ichika's most trusted subordinate was born…A year later they would be discharged as one of the finest squads of Phantom Task pilots and Ichika's most loyal subordinates in Phantom Task. And Shion herself would be one of most distinguished operative of Phantom Task and Autumm's self-proclaimed rival for the top operative spot.

For many months, Ichika demonstrated his skill as a leader.

**He led his team by example.**

_Ichika punched a hole through a USA IS with his own mysterious IS, the Kurokishi and stabbed his sword which was a claymore type into the leg of a Revive._

_He spun around to grab the oncoming USA Second Generation IS Benjamin by the face, impaled his hand into the chest armor and stomped the pilot to the floor._

_The brown colored semi armored IS was made to rival the Revive in terms of weaponry, but added with the US's own weapon systems, it was a whole different vehicle._

_"Keh…You bastards…What are you doing with the [__Arachne]__?" the American pilot demanded as blood trailed from her mouth and her body ached with pain._

_"Nothing you need to be concerned about." said the Knight._

_As the 2nd Gen IS with a rifle in her hand aimed at him from the ground, Ichika leveled his own gun at her head and fired…destroying the IS, but not killing the pilot._

**He trained his team in his image.**

_"Shion! Your aim is off! Put the guard up right or I swear to god I'll break it!" Ichika roared as he roundhouse kicked past her guard and sent her slamming against the wall._

_"Kyaaa!" Shion let out as her body abruptly halted upon impact._

_Ichika turned to block a wooden staff from another girl, who was easily tossed aside with proper jujitsu. Ichika then stepped into the guard of another girl from his squad and struck her chest with a lightning fast palm strike, causing her to collapse._

_"Mami! You need to be quieter when performing a sneak attack! Kyoko! What was that defense just now? It was pathetic!"_

_Soon Ichika released Kyoko, a red head that he had just pinned down and back kicked Shion to the floor again before jumping up and performing a powerful spin kick that knocked down a few other girls._

_"If you girls don't take this seriously forget the massage treatment! I'll throw you outside for a drill!"_

_"NOOOOO! NOT THAT AGAIN!"_

**He never harmed them without just cause**

_"…Is it here?"_

_"Hy!...Uh…Y-yes…Mmmm!"_

_"Stay still, just let my hand guild you…"_

_"I-Ichika-sama…No wait…its…too rough…HAhhhhh!" moaned out Shion as she fell down on her bed…a relaxed puddle of flesh…By the foot massage by her leader._

_All around her bed was the other members of the squad watching enviously as Ichika personally brought them bandages, hot towels, lotions, massage creams, medicines, and other things to relieve them of their pain and stress._

_"Ichika-sama! Me too!"_

_"Wait, me next!"_

_"Ichika-sama…Do my shoulder!"_

_"My boobs too!"_

_"….I'll deal with them all beside the breasts…Do you wish to make me a criminal Sakura Kyoko!"_

_"But you are part of an international terrorist organization."_

_"…This and that has nothing to do with each other."_

**He never gave them false hope…and showed his truth as their own.**

_In the middle of the night, Shion walked up to her leader who was gazing at the moon. He was by the window of the hidden headquarters and was leaning on the wall with his arms cross his chest._

_"Ichika-sama? It passed 12 already…Why have you not gone to bed yet?"_

_"Ah…The moon is especially beautiful tonight."_

_"Ichika-sama?"_

_"…Shion. Why are you part of Phantom Task?"_

_"Sir?"_

_"You could have lived happily elsewhere…You didn't have to join such a dangerous organization."_

_Shion closed her eyes as she thought…than answered._

_"The Ryuuzetsu family has a lifelong debt to the Orimura clan. To pay off our debt, my grandfather and my father served the previous Orimura clan head and your mother…And I am simply fulfilling my duty."_

_Ichika continued to stare at the moon._

_"Ryuuzetsu Shion."_

_"Hai!"_

_Ichika turned to her._

_"I hereby call the debt you owe to my clan into order and give you your upmost important mission."_

_"HAI!" Shion replied as she kneed down and her head low._

_"Obey my command! Whether or not the heavens fall or the earth splits…Stand behind me and watch my back. Till the day my wish is fulfilled…Endure the pain of being my right hand and live."_

_"I-Ichika-sama?"_

_"You don't realize it now…But I feel you and I were destined to meet…I'll leave my back to you."_

_"But sire!"_

_"The back of any animal is a weak spot that has not been covered….I am lending you my life…In return I'll hold onto yours."_

_Ichika pushed himself off the wall and walked away._

_"It's very late…Go back to your room."_

_"…..Hai!"_

**He was brave and strong…but frail and weak on the inside.**

_"Ichika-sama, here is the report you wanted." Shion said, handing her leader a file._

_Ichika opened it and read through the contents thoroughly….before smiling slightly._

_Shion, who had worked alongside Ichika for some time, managed to catch it before it faded as if it was never there to begin with._

_"Ichika-sama?"_

_"It's nothing."_

_Ichika put down the file containing the picture of Madoka standing next to Chifuyu in her Middle School uniform. Another picture was of Madoka at a school sport festival and yet another one was of her sister in a suit at IS Gakuen._

_"Sir…Why did you ask me to bring you an update on these two people's statuses? Your mother prohibits them being mentioned ever."_

_It was true…If there was an iron rule in Phantom Task it was…One, do not insult or disrespect Orimura Ichika. If you do, his mother Reiha will kill that person in slowest and most agonizing way…A rule that Ichika tried to make null and void, but failed._

_The second rule was to avoid dying in a horrible death not to mention the other two remaining Orimura girls._

_"I might have used your Passcode, but…"_

_"Do not worry Shion…A good job by the way. You are dismissed."_

_Shion looked like she wanted to continue, but she didn't as she saluted and left the room._

_As soon as she left Ichika resumed staring at the pictures of his sisters._

_"…Sorry…I am so sorry….Madoka…Chifuyu-nee…But don't worry."_

_Ichika looked up and glared._

_"I am not about to give mother the satisfaction…Soon…Soon….I'll make my move."_

_Outside of his room, Shion was leaning against the wall._

_"…Ichika-sama…" she muttered as she walked away._

1 year later….

"Oh Ichi-chan, mommy is here to see you again. Oh, how I wish you could help mommy again! Those meetings are so boring and mommy had to kill a lot of people to get the meeting over with. You know, if you just stop this little teen rebellion you can help mommy by leading Phantom Task as you did before my baby." Orimura Reiha cooed as she walked into a fancy room filled with everything from high tech computers and coolers to king size beds and other luxurious pieces of furniture.

The room also had many decorative weapons such as a collection of swords and spears on the wall and on the shelves.

Reiha turned to hear some reply, but all she got was a low growl.

"Oh Ichi-chan, mommy knows you can hear me just fine…Even if you sealed yourself in your subconscious along with your flesh."

As she said this she removed her outer clothes and revealed a thin yukata embroidered with decorative flowers.

She turned to her son and stared down at him…At the boy who was chained to the bed with many black steel chains and weighted iron balls.

How did this happen?

Well…If she doesn't do this to restrain her precious son he will go out on a rampage again and she really didn't want to kill her one and only son.

This occurred around half a years ago…When Ichika turned 15 and a half he developed something that was only unique to the Orimura clan…The family's Bloodline Limit…A skill that is genetically transferred from parent to child.

A gift to make a king. A king maker.

The Orimura clan has a special skill that can determine a king or a monster…A delicate power that only one out of several generations of Orimura had and only one out of fifty can attain correctly without becoming a mere monster…A special power that is named **Scale of the Sovereign**.

Scale of the Sovereign is a power that awakens within an Orimura chosen to given a chance to be a ruler or a berserker monster that knows nothing but to destroy and kill…

The one who rises above the power is to be crowned as king…They are given mental strength and god-like charisma that can bend anyone's will…A critical attribute to a powerful ruler. The ruler will never falter and even in the jaws of death the selected king will never waver. His will woukd be iron and his bravery unquestioned. The king will not only have a powerful will, but their body will become closest to perfection. Once achieving the King stage the body will be enhanced to the very peak of physical prowess and mental capability. He or she will easily be able to lead a nation. Such is the gift worthy of a king.

On the other hand, those who fail to control the Scale of the Sovereign become berserkers, mere monsters who trade sanity for power. By receiving this curse an Orimura gains the power to take on the finest warriors of their era and their armies to boot, however once one becomes a berserker he or she has no one…Not even themselves. They will swim through a river of madness and forever be a mere beast to be put down.

The trail to becoming a king or a berserker is a sudden test indeed. It starts by unleashing a great mental and physical change as the genetic secret in their blood shifts and turns them into a human that stands above even the noblest blood.

It is a painful procedure that will make them go through great physical change and mental stress as they relive the past of all the Kings and the Berserkers in the past…The sheer pressure and power behind their bloodline made many Berserkers in the past

Actually the chance of becoming a berserker is around 98% and the chance of becoming a true king is only 2%.

It is no wonder the process is more maddening than glorious…The number of kings made is out \paced by berserkers by such a great length.

However, when there were special Orimura that became kings…The clan went through times of prosperity and great glory…That is a temptation that no Orimura can hope to resist.

Reiha herself was a rare kind who attained the crown as a ruler. During her reign as a Queen the Orimura clan built the Underworlds' most feared organization…A secret force that dreams to take over the world…The Phantom Task.

As her son and the most talented of the three siblings Ichika was thought the best candidate to be the next head of the Orimura and the King of Man. And Reiha was right…Ichika's talent and potential as a king was obvious on how well he lead the Phantom Task and its goal to rule all that is below heaven and over the earth.

Ever since he was brought back to her, Ichika had been groomed to be her successor. He excelled in all forms of study and his leadership and natural charisma made him well respected by all of Phantom Task. If Reiha ruled by fear and beauty, then her son ruled by professional respect and calm nobility…To those who served under Reiha, it was a pleasant experience that made them even more loyal to him.

Ichika was perfect…His skill in combat was only surpassed by his mother and he was one of those super rare Orimura that stood out in the family history.

It looked as if he was destined to be a king.

Oh, Reiha was so happy…She was right…Her son…That man's son is a king…A little crown prince that will bring the world to its knees. A perfect king that will even surpass her…Nothing like the other two failures. However, when Ichika awakened his Scale of the Sovereign…Something outrageous happened.

As mentioned above Ichika showed symptoms of Scale of the Sovereign at the age of 15 and a half. He showed signs of nightmares and a sudden increase in physical skills and reflexes that he himself felt off and not normal…And when Reiha told him it was time and he must meditate to overcome the challenge…He obeyed like a good boy.

Ichika never disappointed mother, no sir.

He is, was, and always will be her little boy.

Silent…Obedient…strong…perfect…A leader she envisioned…A son she desired…A son that never disappoints her…

However, during his procedure to master the Scale of the Sovereign…

One moment he was surpassing the torrent of the king's hardships as if he was meant to be king among kings…To Reiha, who went through the process of suppressing and taming that wild power sleeping in her blood, she saw all the signs of struggle and Ichika overcoming them with sheer will…She was so sure that he will be fine…He is a king…However, suddenly his aura spiked as if he was agitated…And the moment his eyes met his mother's…He smirked.

And he allowed the torrent of madness to devour him…He held the crown of the world in his hand…and boldly tossed both it and the throne aside and became a raging animal…A berserker.

(Flashback)

"Ichika-sama!" yelled out one of Ichika's personal guards the Knight Phantasm.

"Restrain him! Bring out the IS! He's now incapable of using his IS! Restrain him!" one of his guards yelled before she was thrown aside roughly.

"Guuuaaahhhhhhhhh!"

His dark brown eyes were replaced with rolling red madness as he attacked.

As expected of a Berserker, his strength and speed was breathtaking…However, he was relentless and brutal…Nothing like his true self, his graceful, deadly self…Like Reiha herself.

In the middle of the chaos, a certain Ryuuzetsu Shion was laying against a wall.

"Ichika-sama…Was this the only path you had?"

_"Do not question…Do not falter…When I am unable to protect myself or my comrades…Chain me down and hold the Knight Phantasm together…Until the day when I need all of you to stand by my side once more…stay alive."_

Shion wiped a tear coming out of her eye…She had a job to do.

"All units! Hold him down! Bring out the IS!"

"GUUUAAAAHHHHHH!"

Ichika roared not like a warrior charging into battle, but like a beast or a monster.

He grabbed the nearest attacking male and tossed him aside like a rag doll then dodged the various non-lethal attacks from tonfas, batons, and stun guns. He moved like a caged animal, zipping about on all fours as he jumped and kicked with wild, maddening speed.

"Ichika…Why?…I don't know why...I know you attained the control…You were meant to be a king…So why did you throw it aside? For what reason? Why did you turn into an animal?" the mother whispered as she watched her son, roaring and running like a man possessed as he punched and kicked aside all opposition.

"Ichika…Must you do this?…At this rate…(Tears spill from her eyes)…Mommy will have to kill you." Reiha whispered, drawing her sword.

Reiha narrowed her eyes at the chaos below her.

A group of guards came in to surround Ichika, but instead of being overwhelmed Ichika abruptly changed his fighting style, and fought with martial arts and fighting skills hammered into him by his mother.

But how could this be?

She watched as he slid past and ducked the attempts to restrain him and masterfully used his enhanced strength and speed to swiftly take the guards out.

When the male guards swarmed him, he didn't let himself get bogged down. The moment he saw a weakness in their formation he dismantled the group with easy, clean, practiced strikes…This was no Berserker…This was the fighting style of a King.

At first she saw her son become a monster that needed to be killed; however the more she observed the more she saw that her son was using all the sheer power that surpassed the King along with fighting styles Berserkers were incapable of using.

Both of their strengths…None of their weaknesses…

A perfect fighting machine…A hero unlike any other.

"I see…You didn't lose control and become a monster…You planned to use the madness as a cage to hide yourself. You silly boy, you decided to hide from mommy in your own flesh? Is this your message? 'You may hold my body, but my spirit is free?' How childish. Is this how much your sisters influence you…? This…is this your attempt to rebel against your own mother?"

If it is, then her son brilliantly hid himself from her.

He is now locked away in a fighting machine that has all the power of a Berserker and a King, but none of their weaknesses.

He is in a perfect cage…As long as he refuses to come out of his own accord…He will remain a Berserker…

Reiha sat on her throne and watched as Ichika, reduced to a beast, was still able to wield weapons with exceptional skill. He swung, thrust, and spun like a master every sword or spear he got his hands on. He picked up guns and utilized them masterfully, and even wielded random objects to great effect despite having never used them as such. This has never happened before…She is watching something that no Orimura ever achieved and has never been recorded in the history of their grand achievements.

An Orimura who purposely became a Berserker…

A berserker that retained all his skill and tactical capability…His skills and talents are so deeply rooted that he can fight using his wits despite being driven mad…His mental skill and control was so fine-tuned that he could actually remain sane deep inside his own body.

His body runs wild, but his mind is safe…She is left with a body, but not the soul…A mere five years after regaining her son from her wretched daughter…he is gone from her again!

Oh, this will not do…This will not do at all.

"I'll admit it…Chifuyu…Madoka…You both may be rejects and failures, but you managed to corrupt your brother to hold his will for you…I must admit I am impressed, how far you managed to bind his mind to you…But mommy will not let her Ichi-chan go. Oh, no….A brother may belong to his sister, but a son belongs to his mother…I'll show you…I'll use you if I have to get my Ichika back and then…Mommy will have to teach him that she doesn't appreciate his teenage rebellion."

(Flashback end)

It took her 2 hours to restrain and knock out her rampaging son…It cost her a fair amount of manpower, most of her strength, and she war nearly stripped down naked after that fight, but it was the best fight she had in long time.

The funny thing is that despite the large amount of property damage, none of the Phantom Task operatives were severely injured in the process. Oh, her son is so manly! He protects his women (Sacrificial pawns) even when he has fallen to the state of a Berserker.

But once he is strapped to a bed and restrained…He will belong to her in body at least.

Reiha sat on the bed and stroked her son's black hair gently. Only when she is with her son does she feel…Human…

All her life she has felt alone because of her inhuman power and superior capabilities.

She is somewhat trigger happy and kills allies and enemies alike when she wants to or when the bloodlust takes her.

But with her son, insane or not…She feels like a mother…A woman…A person…Not a goddess or a Queen.

She stared at her son…No! Her son's beautiful, handsome cage…A cage made of flesh that has been prepared and perfected to be…most appetizing.

He was currently wearing a full body restraint.

It was a full body eighty pound suit with numerous built in magnetic belts and straps designed to hold a person in place. The suit was pure black and quite stylish…It honestly made her son look exceptionally appealing. It was built to contain internal air conditioning that could be moderated to insure that the wearer was not boiling.

His limbs are restrained by two inch Inconel 625 alloy restraints, each weighing sixty pounds and attached to four tungsten alloy chains that were embedded in a solid steel floor. His eyes are covered by a four millimeter thick black blindfolder, and his mouth is covered by what resembles the bottom half of a traditional Japanese samurai mask, with an appearance comparable to an Oni.

Its purpose was to prevent him from biting anyone.

He also wore a nice black choker connected to chains similar to those used in his limb restrains…So it was also a sort of a leash…

Oh, how she loves these things.

"Ichika-chan…Will you not come out now? Mommy wishes to talk with you again."

The boy's response was a growl, but seeing as he was restrained, that was the limit of his resistance.

Reiha merely gave her son a gentle-one might even say motherly- smile, and laid his head on her lap. She resumed stroking his hair.

"You're so mean Ichi-chan. Teasing your mother like this…You are so much like your father…He always loved to tease me, always wanted me to submit to his will and beg…What a charming man." She gazed at her son's blindfolded face.

"At least your teen rebellion isn't as bad as your accursed sister. Your sister took you from me body and soul…But at least you left your body to me." She cooed, kissing his forehead.

"Guhhhh…" Ichika growled lowly.

"Oh…I hope you come back out soon, sweetie. Mommy wants to see you become a king to succeed me…And if she has to, mommy will have to do something drastic." She warned, slowly removing the mask covering his mouth.

Once the mask was removed Ichika snarled, baring his teeth.

"Guuahhh…Gahhh…" he growled out, but the restraints were unmoving in the face of his desire and attempts to free himself. With the sudden loss of the mask and the sensation of fresh air against his skin Ichika fought against his restraints with renewed vigor.

Ichika somehow managed to push himself up, but his mother smiled and placed her finger on his mouth.

"Shhhh….No biting mommy…Well, not at the moment, but let's not discuss that now."

She placed her ever-resisting son on her lap and began to slowly sing to him.

(Sora wa Takaku Kaze wa Utau-Fate Zero S2 ED)

"Doushite sora wa konnani aokute? Nani mo Kanashimi wo shiranu you ni. Itsumo Tamerawaszu ashita e to kuzureochiru. (Why is the sky so blue? As if oblivious to sadness. It crumbles incessantly to make way for a new day.)"

She recalled…That man always enjoyed listening to her song. She remembered that man…One who held such sad smile and such strength…Only man she ever loved.

"Inochi wa tarinai mama umarete kuru no ne. Kakeochita kokoro ni anata ga furete. (I supposes we are born with our lives short. You have touched my torn heart.)"

She was like a doll…someone who views the world as boring and never really interesting…She simply existed…Not realizing what she wanted…Was she an Orimura, because she was born one? Or perhaps she wants to do something with this…power of a King…

"Futari de yuku mirai wa kegare no nai tsuyosa de.(Our future ahead is filled with a pure, unblemished strength.)"

He cupped her cheek…She never allowed any other to treat her like this, but this man stopped her attempts to remove him, ignored her cold gaze, and smiled.

"Why do you allow yourself to be caged? The sky is vast you know." He asked her…And soon he became her sky…A warm heaven where she was a woman and a human…And for the first time had a goal.

"Sora wa takaku kaze wa utau. (The sky is vast, the wind is melody)."

They fell in love…and gave birth to Chifuyu. However…she was not fit for her lover's dream.

"Me...?I have a dream, but don't laugh, okay."

"Oh, fine, Kirei...So what is your dream?"

"Well…I want to unify the world…and leave my mark in the pages of history."

"Yume wo miteta yorokobi e to. (Men will one day come to realize)."

His dream was so vast that she never realized it…What she took for granted, he wanted to make reality, with his own two hands…She wanted it now…She wanted to see his dream.

"Hito wa itsuka tadoritsukeru. (The joy of chasing after a dream.)"

A twin…Oh, how she wished one of them was a strong healthy boy…He will have Kirie's spirit…a prince to the world Kirie envisioned…a once and forever King of Man.

"Kodomo no hitomi de anata was shinjita. (With the eyes of a child, you've always had faith.)"

Died…Kirei died….it was their fault…The council of the elders…Unfit? Unworthy? How dare they! I chose him! I wanted him! He is and forever will be only man she will love!

She killed them all…The council of the elders who were worried about the future of the clan…They need the noblest bloodline to join to preserve the glory of the clan they said…How foolish! Kirie-sama…He is most worthy! And how dare they **kill him**!

Burt it is okay….She already killed all of them.

"Soba ban i iru yo, kooritsuita mori wo nukete. (I'll be right beside you, as we pass through the frozen forest.)"

"Sono hitomi ga sekai no nageki ni mayowanu you ni (So that the world's sorrow will not taint your eyes.)"

Perhaps because he is that man's son, the moment she begin singing, the young man driven by madness suddenly stopped fighting against his restraints…and slowly fell asleep in his mother's arms.

Never in the history ofthe Orimura clan has there been a Berserker that can be tamed like this…It simply shows how 'sane' this Berserker truly is.

"Sweet dreams sweetie…Just like how your father fell asleep in my arms." Reiha murmured, her voice flowing with emotion, a look of pure contentment on her face. Both a complete reverse from her normal manner.

However…

"Guah…C-Chi…Fu…Yu…Nee…sama…." Ichika murmured, before relaxing.

Reiha froze. Her world froze, and for several seconds, her mind went blank.

"…Chifuyu, you little bitch…You sang this song to him didn't you…? A secret between Kirei-sama and myself…How dare you use it for your gain…How dare you of all people sing this song to him…."

Reiha brought her son closer to her.

"He is mine! Always has been mine…Chifuyu…Your end will come by Ichika's own hands…Be happy that you will die a horrible death…In which son will kill you and destroy everything you love and care for…That I promise you." Reiha stated as she sang to her son…Trying to erase the impression left by her daughter with her own melody.

"A mission milady? Yourself?" asked Squall, one of the most distinguished commanders of Phantom Task.

"Yes, I have use for your squad…I need to push my son out of his shell and what better way than battle."

"You mean to say you wish for my squad to fight Ichika-sama? But that's-"

"Don't kid yourself. Your squad isn't even going to slow him down. I just need you to clean up the mess he leaves behind…As a Berserker he cares not for minor details such as...obstructions."

"Please forgive me milady…What is our destination?"

Reiha smiled as she sat on the throne in the command room.

"Head to IS Academy…I heard my worthless daughters are there and the youngest reject is about to compete in some class tournament…I thought, why not let Ichika test his sister…Show him that she is nothing but a bug. Who knows…He might be merciful and end her miserable self."

"At once Reiha-sama." Squall replied, already moving to order the crew to turn the flying stealth vessel toward the pinnacle of IS organization…The IS Gakuen.

At the same time Phantom Task was approaching the IS Gakuen…A certain little sister was readying herself for a two on two match.

"I'm going to stomp that bitch to the floor! How dare she insult Ichika-ni and me? Chifuyu-nee's weakness are we? Well I'm going to shove my rifle where the sun doesn't shine!"

Orimura Madoka is a young maiden in the prime of her teenage years.

She looked just like her older sister only shorter with height and smaller chest…Which is one of her few laments since Chifuyu had a larger bust when she was her age.

Madoka is now preparing for a match against Laura and Houki with Charlotte, a new friend she made from France.

"Are you ready Madoka-chan?" asked Charlotte as she finished getting ready.

"Ah, yeah."

Charlotte Dunois is the representative of France and the pilot of a 2nd generation Rafael Revive Custom II. She was originally sent to the academy to befriend Madoka and steal data out of her Personal IS, Silent Zephyrs, which was given to her by Tabane after she exchanged her personal research data with the British government.

The Silent Zephyrs was then modified with some of Tabane's experimental technology and given to Madoka.

It was a prize that the Dunois Company couldn't ignore. Thus Charl was sent in as a spy.

While Charl felt devastated for tricking her friends, Madoka forgave her. It was something her brother would have approved of.

"Our match starts in 3 minutes." Charl reminded her, staring at the digital clock on the wall.

"Okay, I feel bad for Houki, but a duel is a duel."

Many things have happened since the day she was kidnapped and her brother was taken.

For one the incident caused her older sister to nearly destroy the city to find her brother. Only after wiping out more than two hundred crime syndicates and forcibly taking control of the JSSDF with threats involving her IS and Tabane's blackmail did she stop…Well, stop searching like a madwoman.

Since then Madoka had spent more and more time alone as her sister reverted back to her middle school personality…Cold and sharp to the point that she can freeze the very air and slice it to pieces.

The only comfort Madoka had was her friends. Rin, who was once her eternal rival for her brother's affections, and Houki who also was a rival…It's funny how her once antagonistic rivals are now some of her only friends.

When Rin heard about the kidnapping she was devastated. The incident was not spread to the media or the public, but some people noticed her brother was missing. After 6 years many people had forgotten about him, but to those that he mattered Orimura Ichika lived on in their memories…Her radiant older twin brother.

_"…Live."_

That's what he told her before her world faded to black…His last words to her…

Madoka didn't give up.

She actually encouraged her older sister to work with the Germans when she told her about the deal the German Army had given her when she began searching for her younger siblings after they were kidnapped.

_"Chi-Neesama, You need all the edges you can get. Contact Tabane-san, pull favors and make the German military owe you. Use whatever you can to find Ichi-nii."_

For the last six years they had searched tirelessly, but there had not been any solid leads.

While the two Orimuras both fervently wished to find their missing brother, they had little to connect with each other besides that.

Some part of Madoka resented her sister for not finding them faster. Some part of Chifuyu actually wished she found Ichika rather than her younger sister lying unconscious on the ground that day.

It was a mix of complicated feeling and understanding. Ichika was the glue that had always held them together…Now all that holds them together is his memory…and the fact both of them want to see him come back to them alive.

When Madoka became old enough to join the IS Gakuen, she immediately took her entrance exam and aptitude test and got a perfect A on her first try. She needed power and in this day and age, a woman with an IS and tremendous skill is better than anything in this world.

Her IS and skill insures that she receives recognition and recognition leads to power and power…Power means the ability to influence and effect the world.

When she came to IS Gakuen she was surprised to see her old childhood nightmare Shinonono Houki. They got into a heated argument after Houki demanded to know where Ichika was and she eventually revealed what had happened to him.

To say Houki was horrified was an understatement.

Despite their now former rivalry they hit it off rather well. Houki wanted to find Ichika and to the point that she was willing to beg her sister to inform her about any leads.

Later on Madoka had to compete against Cecilia Alcott for one reason over another and received the Silent Zephyrs.

Cecilia was insulted that she was given a prototype of her Blue Tears, but after their fight in which Madoka was the victor she gained respect for the younger Orimura twin. They actually became friends of a sort, bonding over their desires to improve their skills with remote weapons.

After Madoka befriended Cecilia, she was reunited with Rin, who reentered her life as a representative of the China and pilot of Shenlong.

The two friends exchanged heartwarming embrace at their reunion and reconfirmed their resolve to find Ichika with a friendly spar.

Unfortunately it was interrupted by an unmanned IS with a laser fetish…yeah, it was an eventful reunion.

After the incident Madoka, Rin, Houki met at the Shinonono Shrine and decided to make a vow and an oath of sisterhood.

The the three girls in their school uniforms kneeled and prayed. Afterwards Houki brought out a bottle of well-made sake and sake dishes for each of them.

She placed the cups on the shrine stairway near the holy binding and the sacred tree and settled down.

Madoka kneeled down and poured out the drinks for each of them. The three girls nodded to each other and held their cups out.

"We, Orimura Madoka, Shinonono Houki, and Hyuang Ling hereby swear an oath. May our bodies turn to dust and our time reach the end, but may heaven hear our oath and watch over us." Madoka declared, her voice filled with unwavering resolve.

"The three of us to remain as sisters despite the difference in blood! The days we were brought to this world may differ, but the three of us swear an oath to die on the same year, same month, same day, and same hour!" Houki continued, gazing into her friends' eyes and smiling.

"We hereby swear an eternal oath to find our missing brother and friend Orimura Ichika! Let heaven witness our will and dream. And should we fail at our quest, then allow heaven to deliver its harsh judgment upon us!" Rin finished, holding herself with pride and determination.

The three (underage) girls took a deep breath downed their sake in a single shot…and they were now sworn sisters whose goal was quite similar to that of the famous three brothers of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. All fans of the legendary classic know the names of the brothers: Ryuubi Gentoku, Kanu Unchou, and Chouhi Ekitoku.

Their goal is as clear as heaven above…They will find Ichika or die trying!

And the three sisters spent their days in the IS Gakuen becoming stronger to make a difference in the world…And soon they encountered Charlotte Dunois and Laura Bodewig…

While Charl fit into the group just fine, despite being caught stealing Silent Zephyrs' data, Laura…

Oh! That girl was just asking for a beating.

"You are the weakness that made Instructor weak…People like you and your brother don't deserve to be called Orimura."

Madoka can ignore many things in life. And in a way she knew that she was her sister's weakness that day six years ago…However, not worthy of being an Orimura? Her brother, unworthy?

HE GAVE UP HIS FREEDOM TO LET HER **LIVE**! He is without a doubt an Orimura! The only male Orimura to carry on the name! Any insult to her and her sister Chifuyu is one thing, but Madoka is not going to allow any insult towards her brave brother…If she must she will become the Asura herself to make the little Chifuyu-fangirl pay for her arrogance!

Soon the four girls were ready to brawl in a two on two match.

"Sure saves a lot of time, meeting in the first round." Laura said, floating gently in her black IS.

"I feel the same." Madoka replied also floating in her Silent Zephyrs.

"Madoka….You and I might be sworn sisters, but don't hold back against me." Houki said as she readied her sword.

Madoka smirked at her 'Kanu' and raised her bayonet rifle.

"Bring it, sister!"

5...4…3…2…1…0!

The fight begins!

The four girls immediately engaged in gun fight and sword clashes. Rain of metal bullets and beam laser filled the air as Charl and Madoka flew into the air to put some distance between them and Houki's masterful swordplay and Laura's AIC.

Laura's rail cannon was somewhat inaccurate despite being a long range weapon. Madoka's archer-like eyes could see and predict the trajectory of the attack, and given that it wasn't always going straight at her, she dodged fairly easily. She was like a ballerina as she skillfully evaded the attacks in the form of rail cannon rounds and cable wires.

"Charl!"

"I got it!"

Charlotte summoned two Gram machine guns and fired on her opponents from above. Houki didn't bother dodging. Instead she turned her shoulder shields to cover her head and charged through the air for a horizontal slash.

"Hahh!"

Whoooosh! Swiisshh!

She nearly hit Madoka's extended arm, but the youngest of the Orimura slide back quickly and unleashed her most powerful weapons.

"Surround her! BITS!" she declared as 6 shield BITs surrounded her in protection and 4 laser BITs surrounded Houki and fired.

The pink beams burned through the air to cut down the lone samurai maiden, but the Miko of Shinonono danced through the rain of energy.

As Houki engaged Madoka, Charl kept Laura busy by showering her with bullets using any and all guns in her armory, firing as fast as possible. Despite the barrage Laura blocked every round with her AIC.

"Those kinds of attacks are only a waste of time! My AIC is unconquerable and unbreachable!"

"Tsk!"

The four girls continued their little battle, unknowing of the approaching danger.

"Reiha-sama, the missile is ready."

"Excellent, Squall…" Reiha turned to the screen on her left which showed her son going down the elevator.

The missile was a rocket with a relatively hollow interior and tough enough to withstand most anti-air attacks. It has an automatic program designed to insure that it dodges attacks and preserves itself, and only is it equipped with beam weapons that can even pierce through barriers. This missile is not a flying projectile designed to pierce through any shield, but a transport…a carrier that can break into an IS protected facility…Like the IS Academy.

Reiha turned on the speaker in the elevator. "Ichika-chan…I want you to do mommy proud, okay? Mommy wants you to go…and kill the shame on her honor."

"Guggg….."

"I, Orimura Reiha…Hereby order the seal on the Kuroshiki…To release itself until the enemy is utterly silenced." Reiha intoned as Ichika's as a red marking on his right hand glowed. The marking became visible through the black restraining jacket on him as the chains dangled on his wrists, ankles, and neck.

The marking was in the shape of three curvy waves in a circular wave.

It was the standard symbol of Ichika's personal IS…The Kuroshiki.

How or why matters not, but when Kuroshiki, a prototype 3rd generation IS was given to Ichika, it fused with his flesh and melded with his skin.

The IS was modified to be a leash allowing Reiha to control her rampaging son and make him come back home…back to her arms.

"Go my son…My Bakuchishin (Dashing Earthly Fiend)…My raging Berserker…My hero of madness…My son…The King, the tyrant, the King among king."

"GUAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

Ichika roared as he stepped out of the elevator and made his way on slightly unsteady steps into the missile's interior through an open hatch…after he entered, the rocket glowed an ominous black, and a shadowy, flowing aura emerged to cover his form as he transformed…Into a Black Paladin.

The hatch swung closed as the paladin stood enveloped by a black shroud of darkness which hides his form from naked eyes and from IS sensors.

"Launch!"

And the rocket erupted from the flying stealth fortress, sailing into the air…Toward the IS Gakuen's battle arena.

Ichika was heading toward his sister….his mind clouded by rage, insanity, and the desire to fight, kill, and destroy.

IS Gakuen's four newest and most talented members of the first year were still engaged in deadly combat as Houki was pushed back by a bayonet slash from Madoka and Charl was sent flying like a ragdoll by Laura's bladed cables.

But suddenly the school warning system on their respective IS's blared red.

[Warning…Unauthorized object entering the academy air space…Warning, unidentified object approaching the arena shield. Impact in 10 seconds…]

The girls looked up to see a large black warhead of some sort flying towards them as it quickly closed with the arena shield. A pink light appeared on the tip of the object, before it impacted the invisible wall. In less than an instant, accompanied by a sound that resembled the very odd combination of an object smashing through a glass window and a shotgun firing, the barrier was penetrated and the unknown projectile was continued on its deadly course.

"SCATTER!"

The girls immediately jumped and flew backward to avoid the black missile plowing down straight toward the center of the arena.

"What the?"

"Madoka, what is that?"

The missile suddenly started to break apart from the front and the back, as pieces of it very quickly fell off and were destroyed by pressure.

Another black object fell from the missile at high speeds…BOOOM! ….And smashed into the ground creating a huge grater as the remains of the missile the air began exploding and falling down like a rain of metal and fire.

After a moment's hesitation, the four girls approached the hole and began using their hyper sensors to scan the unknown black…thing.

All of their sensors picked up…something…But there was no clear explanation. It was an IS they were sensing….But no information like its full appearance, anything about its manufacturer, nothing. The best they could get besides the fact that it was an IS was its energy reading!

_Kack! Kack! Kack! Kack! Kack! Kack! Kack! Kack!_

The sound of heavy metal footsteps echoed in the air…each step sending a jolt up their tense spines.

'Was it another unmanned unit like before?' Madoka wondered as she readied herself…She was not about to get caught off guard again.

From the smoke emerged…a black knight?

Despite their sensors and their own vision from the IS they could ascertain little about because of the blurring black mist surrounding the knight…Hell, they couldn't even analyze it.

However, through the mist they could see some form of decorative black medieval armor and a full cover helmet with a glowing red visor through the darkness and deep blue colored, long, ribbon like hair piece waving about against the wind and the raging black shroud.

The black knight seemed…confused? Or perhaps lost, but then it slowly turned his head to regard the floating form of Madoka in her Silent Zephyrs…and it's gaze remained locked on her.

Madoka felt as if she was being held in the gaze of a predator completely and totally superior to her, and froze…Then mentally commanded her Bits Shield and Assault types to float around her in a guard.

"W-Who are you? Do you know what you're doing? Dematerialize your IS and get your hands in the air!" Madoka ordered, but the knight couldn't hear her…The moment he saw her his mind became a frenzy of wild emotions.

He only heard one thing from the communication link in his helmet. One order. The voice he heard was as calming as it was exciting.

_"…Attack…My beloved son."_

The command is given…The arrow has left the bow.

"Guaaahhhh!" he roared, launching himself at Madoka, his actions dictated by his wrath, as raging and wild as a hurricane or a forest fire.

It was a reunion they both sought…But never like this.

* * *

**_Before you all get upset with this 'berserker' idea I seem to go overboard at. First of all, I though an evil Ichika or male version of Madoka is…to expected..._**

**_It sound like something one will do eventually and not as special. I mean look at thousands of evil Naruto or dark Naruto fic out there._**

**_I don't wana make a fic that someone will get to eventually and I like to go into some ideas other never used yet…Call it a writter's pride, because I like to think all of my Ideas so far were first of their kind in various ways._**

**_I don't intend to make Ichika into some monster for kicks thou. There are reasons and soon he will be free of that chain._**

**_This Ichika is a more patient and collected than my Soaring of the Doukugan Ryu' Ichika. This one is all about deep mental stuff that is very I still get to use awesomeness of Berserker that I could not in my other IS fic._**

**_Think of it this way._**

**_In the Dougukan Ryu fic my Ichika is like Iskandar, the Rider from Fate Zero. A loud and proud leader who is followed by faithful warriors and has kick as skill like Lancelot, but this one is like the real Lancelot from Fate Zero. A dark, foreboding and mysterious._**

**_I hope I didn't disappointed you too much, but please understand my point of view. Also I hope someone get to make a mean Ichika one day._**

**_Also, I plan on another IS fic, if I get some progress on my other fic…This one will obvious be special too…However if I can't get to it, perhaps I'll sent it out as a challenge._**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi everybody it has been some time. The reason for the slow update is not only that my betas are busy and stuff, recently I lost my work and had to redo alot...alot of the work. I managed to redo the Soaring of the Dokugan Ryu, but it needs to be beta'd. The Reflection of the Sky and the next ch for this fic had to be redone, but it is back to what it was before I lost it. However the ch4 for the Kisame fic, ch2 for the Majikoi, and even the prototype ch for the Thy CHain in My Hand...I am soooo sorry for the delay.**

* * *

Ch3 Absolute...Absolute Display of Power. Kurokishi!

* * *

The black knight covered in a dark shroud dashed at Madoka at speeds unheard of in a running IS.

The knight jumped into the air, the ground beneath his feet cracking open, scattering earth and dust as he took off. He came down on Madoka with his right fist ripping towards her, but she immediately flew backwards. The knight landed on his feet and shot after her, but Madoka had already brought her BITs to bear on him.

"Open fire!" she commanded, and the Assault BITs fired, sending lasers flashing towards him, filling the space between with a cavalcade of light beams. However, the knight evaded the laser storm by the teeth as he swayed and dodged.

He only took just enough steps to avoid the lasers…Never giving ground and advancing steadily.

His display of maneuverability made all the pilots' hair stand on the back of their heads. It was one thing to dodge Madoka's BITs, but it was another thing entirely to wade into her barrage without being hit. As they looked on, the lights flashed, and the shadow danced among them, slowly making its way forward in an ironic struggle between darkness and light.

If not for the situation, and the nerve wracking growls of the mysterious dark being over the open channel, it would have been breathtaking.

Despite his berserk manner, the black knight's movements and form combined power and speed with a high amount of skill.

"**Guuaaahhhhh!"** the dark one roared, leaping into the air and crossing the remaining space between him and Madoka as a dark blur, before twisting in an impossibly graceful manner for an IS and spin kicking at Madoka.

Madoka brought her shield BITs in front of her to block an instant before her enemy was upon her, and his armored appendage slammed into her shield, sending streams of black and blue energy arcing away from the center of impact. The black knight quickly kicked off the shield into the air as Madoka brought her rifle up and fired from less than five meters away.

_Whoosh! Finnnngggg! Finnnngggg!_

At that range, with her skills, and with her opponent in mid-leap, she shouldn't have missed. But with an incredible twist and contortion of his form the black knight avoided injury, the lasers flashing by inches from his body.

Landing upright despite his impromptu acrobatics display, the dark warrior calmly looked up at Madoka. The entire exchange took less than a minute.

Madoka narrowed her eyes. While she was less experienced with BITs than Cecilia, her talent with the Remote Optical Drone Weapons was incredible. Even more so with IS firearms. She was a crack shot…some said that her talent with guns rivaled her older sister's with swords.

So her complete lack of hits was extraordinary, not to mention frustrating.

"Ok, that's it! I don't care what kind of IS or if you're even an IS at all! I'm ending this _now_!" she adjusted her aim slightly, her Assault BITs replaced her Shield BITs, her opponent tensed, and-

"HAhhh!" she cried out, unleashing a storm of laser beams that covered every route the knight could take, and of course targeted the knight himself. Madoka aimed to trap and destroy her opponent, rather than bombard him and struggle to get a hit…he would to dodge to avoid being hit, and if he dodged, he would get hit…it was impossible to dodge.

_CLANK!_

Various surprised exclamations sprang up throughout the area from Houki, Laura, Charl, and many other people.

"What just happened?" Rin asked from her position observing the fight in the Command Post alongside Chifuyu and Maya. They were also trying to figure out how the hell the medieval reject managed to break through the extremely powerful arena barrier with such ease.

"What? Didn't you see it?" asked Chifuyu , her voice more stoic than bored with a hint of interest.

"What do you mean?"

"She means what that knight did in response to Madoka-san's attack." Cecilia responded from her position next to Rin.

"Huh?"

"When Madoka-san attacked, it didn't move from its position, it simply adjusted its stance enough to dodge the strikes aimed right at it without moving into the path of the others. Just a few twists and turns..."

To avoid that attack without changing position, without even getting grazed…that's impressive, even to the best IS pilots.

"**Guhhhh….GUUUAAAAAHHHHH!"**

Eight long, paper thin, metallic black cables suddenly burst out of the knight's back. They were several times longer than the knight himself, and had sharp, arrowhead ends.-

The sudden appearance of the cables caused Madoka's eyes to narrow. These cables were not contained in some kind of launcher compartment like Laura's so it was a quite a surprise. Madoka's narrowed eyes quicklywidened when the cables moved too fast for her to react, and one Assault BIT was stabbed by one cable and a Shield BIT was impaled by another.

Other cables snapped out at her BITs, but this time Madoka reacted swiftly and flew backwards, her BITs staying with her, though one barely dodged a swing from one of the deadly implements. "Damn it, I was too slow," muttered Madoka, eyeing her two ruined drones pensively. "But it looks like this guy doesn't have any ranged weaponry.

Suddenly, the Assault BIT that had been impaled spun around to face her, the cable still embedded in it.

Madoka was startled "What the-" the drone fired, its laser smashing into her armor, blowing her backwards with a cry of pain and shock.

"Gah?" she gasped, quickly regaining control and staring at the treacherous BIT in shock.

Her fellow students snapped out of their dazes and readied themselves for battle.

In front of their eyes the two impaled BITs had not blown up, and had not stopped functioning…Instead they had turned black, and red veins had spread all over their surfaces. The same dark, misty shroud that covered the knight now blurred over them as they faced Madoka.

"Oh you're kidding me-"

The Assault BIT fired.

Madoka leaped to the right while firing back with her remaining BITs and two rifles, but the knight burst forwards, the impaled and corrupted BITs following, with the Shield BIT providing a bit of cover for him.

"What's going on? She can take control of drones? Is it because their automated?" Houki wondered, watching the Black Knight wield the two stolen BITs.

The dark assailant jumped, rolled, ran, and blocked using his stolen Shield BIT. And as before, he continuously avoided getting hit even once by Madoka's barrage.

"**Guuuaaahhhhhh!"** the black paladin bellowed as he jumped at the Silent Zephyrs, clawed gauntlet extended to slash at her; however Madoka used her bayonet to block the claw, which collided with her bayonet with a clang and a shriek of metal on metal while and leveled her second gun at his chest.

"Boom." She said with a smirk as she fired at the paladin's chest, a brief burst of energy highlighting the area of impact. The Knight roared in pain as he flew backwards a few meters before smashing into the ground. He quickly leapt up.

"**Ggguuuuaaahhhhh!"** the knight roared to the heavens, shaking the very air around him. The high pitched sound assaulted the four pilots' ears and rattled their nerves.

Houki suddenly appeared next to the enraged paladin with her katana in full swing at his side, but he burst into action, blocking the blade with his armored elbow before ducking under another rapid slash.

Behind him Charl gracefully took advantage of his blind spot and leveled her guns at him.

"I got you!" she let out as she opened fire as the knight fended off Houki, but one of the cables on his back flickered and whipped around, the Shield BIT it captured emitting its beam shield and protecting his back.

The knight's front, right side, and the back were covered…Laura now had a single opening worth exploiting…The right.

_Booom!_

Laura fired her rail cannon despite the fact that Houki and Charl were near the knight.

The knight's head spun towards the sailing giant metal shell as it neared him…And he roared.

A large explosion burst out, completely obscuring the three warriors locked in combat. Smoke and flames filled the ground where they had been fighting. Charl and Houki burst out of the smoke, but Charl was missing her machinegun, the Gram, and Houki's High Vibration Katana had lost its top half. Both of their armors were battered.

"Charlotte-san! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!"

Houki glared at Laura who merely snorted. She didn't hesitate to attack…Despite the fact that she was her partner in the match!

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THIN-!" Houki demanded, but her focus returned to the fight as she was showered by a rain of glowing crimson bullets that burst out of the smoke. She began parrying with her broken katana immediately, but there were too many projectiles to block, and she was soon being worn down as bullet after bullet smashed into her armor.

"HOUKI-SAN!" Charl let out, but she was unable to intervene as the black knight jumped out of the smoke and sped behind her. She immediately spun around, her combat knife, the Bread Slicer, in hand and aimed at her opponent.

Her strike failed, parried as it was by a sharp piece of metal resembling part of the top of a broken katana…Houki's broken half…

"What?"

"**GRRUUAAAHHHH!"**

The knight leveled her own Gram, now black with red veins, at her face…and the trigger was pulled.

_Ratatatatatatatatatatatatatat!_

Charl recoiled with a pained, but restrained gasp before covered her face and body with her arms. In the heat of the moment, she didn't think about leaping away to avoid the bombardment

By the time she even considered it two seconds later, her shield points had dropped significantly, but before she could act on her thoughts, she was caught off guard as the knight tossed aside the stolen machine gun and grabbed her chest armor with his sharp claw like hand-

_Whoosh! Reaack!_

-And stabbed the broken katana into her chest. The Absolute Barrier and the armor she wore saved her life, but her IS let out sparks of electricity as the blade sank deep into it. Charl had no break as the knight grabbed her hand and twisted it, the Bread Slicer falling out of her hand against her will and into his, before he spun her around to use her as a living shield against Houki's attack, forcing her to come to a halt.

The knight slammed his shoulder into Charl's back, smashing her into Houki sending them both flying, but the moment his latest attack hit home, he was attacked from above by Madoka's BITs and Laura's bladed cables.

"**GUUUUUAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"**

The knight spun on his feet to dodge the beam attacks, using the stolen Bread Slicer to deflect the metal cables with a flurry of strikes.

Madoka fired her rifle over and over again. She found it odd that the knight refused to fly or even hover. The PIC in every IS allowed them to fly and hover in their normal stages, so why wasn't the knight fighting her in the air?

Could it be...It is incapable of flight?

Suddenly he jumped into the air very fast, spun in a circle and performed a spinning ax-kick, which Madoka blocked with her twin bayonets crossed over her head. While she blocked the attack, she was still smashed into the ground.

"Tsh!"

"**GUUUAAAAAHHHHHH!"**

The knight landed on the ground, then-

_Whhooioosh!_

Laura came flying from the side with her plasma sabers activated. The knight ducked under her slash and used his arms to block her second slash.

The knight grabbed her left and right shoulder. He stepped in close and head-butt. The armored helmet slammed into her head and rattled her brain.

The Absolute Barrier stopped her neck from snapping, but the impact still broke her form.

The knight used Laura like a make shift shield from Madoka's attacks and pummeled Laura with rapid strikes. The growling paladin slammed a cruel upper cut into her chest than elbowed her away.

The black knight roared as he jumped backward with a flip and clawed at the floating Madoka like a wild tiger. She arranged her Shield BITs in a shield wall to defend herself. The three remaining Assault BITs zoomed around the knight and planted several shots in his back.

The Knight roared in pain, the cables whipped around him and his black mist shrouding him snapped angrily. The Shield BIT under his control made a small shield protecting his back and the Assault BIT came flying straight at her.

"Oh no you don't!" said Madoka as her shield stood firm in front of her.

BOOOM!

Madoka watched as the Assault BIT rammed into her shields and stopped there. She watched the black and red vein covered BIT crack and break, but it still gathered energy particles and-

_BOOOMMMM!_  
-Blew up in a furious eruption of fire.

"A Kamikaze?" the Youngest Orimura questioned. The fire was intense and the force of the explosion of energy overload was earth shattering. The Shield BITS protected her from the attack, but…

_Whoosh! POW!_

It obscured her vision and left her side exposed. The knight took advantage of that by slamming his fist into her side. The side of Silent Zephyrs cracked under the impact and she raised her bayonet rifle to defend herself.

"DON'T!" _Pisshu!_ "GET!" _Pisshu!_ "AHEAD!"_Pisshu!_ "OF YOURSELF!" _Pisshu!_ "YOU!" _Pisshu!_ "MEDIEVAL REJECT!" Madoka roared.

She gave the knight three shots to the chest, shoulder, and leg. Her attacks staggered the knight onto one knee, but he burst into a sharp roll to slam into her, which Madoka jumped up to avoid.

The knight stood back up, but quickly dropped on his stomach again to avoid a railgun blast.

Laura came back with the fury of angry Germany wolf, rapidly leveling the ground the knight was standing on. The black knight spun on his heel and dashed around, avoiding the barrage. However he was soon attacked from above by Madoka's laser festival and by Charl from the side with rapid bursts of her Rain of Saturday shotgun and Vent assault rifle.

Not even with his insane skill could the knight avoid an attack from all directions consisting of such a wide variety of attacks. And add three angry women it will always gave a result of unavoidable beat down.

Sparks flickered on his armor as the dark warrior struggled for the first time.

The Kurokishi was an absolute combat type IS and was built to fight against other ISs. Its systems were meant for Anti-IS combat and its power source was extraordinary…10 times more than any competition type IS…This onslaught will not be able to put him down.

But it can slow him down.

Within the armor, Orimura Ichika's mortal flesh and his fighting instinct was battered from all direction as he got hit over and over again. It did nothing to lower his shield point too much as his was a military Shield generator, Phantom Task Custom, but it was pushing him in all direction with no break.

When he tried to attack one of them, another intentionally or unintentionally stops him and protects each other…it was a tiring and annoying experience for the beast within the IS.

Suddenly Houki dropped down on him from above with her broken vibration katana in hand and slashed down on his armored helmet.

_CLANK!_  
The knight roared in pain as sparks erupted across his headwear as Houki's katana inflicted the deepest wound he'd taken so far. No bullets, no laser burns, and certainly no electromagnetic cannon shell managed to inflict such damage before…

This deed can't be unrewarded…The Knight must return the favor with gusto.

"**GUUUAHH! GUAHHHHHH!"**

The red visor on the paladin lit up as a bloody ray as he slashed the stolen Bread Slicer into Houki's shoulder armor and slammed his fist down on the hilt, pushing the blade through the exterior armor and only Houki's Absolute Barrier kept her from losing her arm.

The knight grabbed her arm with one hand and buried his foot into her midsection with a mighty roar. The moment the kick landed Houki began to fly off from the force, but the knight held her in his grasp, nearly ripping her arm off.

The armored demon didn't slow down one bit as he threw the girl down hard, cracking the ground around her and leaving an imprint of her in the dirt. He abandoned all form of defense and pounced on her. He held her arm down, kneeled on her chest and brought his head right to her face…and stopped…But why did he pause?

"Guahhh….**Hoo**….Grrrr….**Kiiii**…"

On the ground Houki barely heard the faint growl of her name, but she was suddenly tossed aside by the knight. She flew into the air for a second, than landed on the ground a few yards from the knight.

The second daughter of Shinonono didn't even stand a chance as her assailant covered the distance between them with a simple back flip.

"T-This…How can I…" Houki clenched her eyes shut as the knight raised his fist towards the sky and blocking the sun from her vision.

The knight was about to slam his fist down on her, until Charl swept down to gun him down. Suddenly the cables on the paladin's back swayed and whipped as they stabbed Houki's Uchigane in the shoulder and the chest, while he brought his armored forelimbs up to cover himself.

Houki let out a startled yell as her IS's armor turned black at the point of impalement. The darkness spread further and further across her armor, and with it sprang angry red veins that glowed maliciously.

The Knight's distorting black shroud whipped and raged around him even further. He let out an earth shattering roar as bullets struck all over his form alongside Madoka's support shots, but he didn't care as his 3rd generation ability kicked in.

Suddenly the knight raised his hand, and a dark light glowed on his palm briefly before dispersing and revealing a spare High Vibration Katana from Houki's arsenal.

The Kurokishi's 3rd generation IS ability, Knight of Honor: A Knight Does Not Die With Empty Hands.

The ability to take control of any and all weapons by inserting extremely unique nano-bots through the cable blades or fingers. Once inserted into the target, the nano-bots replicate at an astounding rate, spreading through the target and slaving it to the will of the Kuroshiki. In addition, the nano-bots additional energy added to the enslaved devices increases their capabilities. As a side effect, the weapons taken over blacken, red veins sprout across them, and they are enshrouded by the same black shroud of that which powers them, Kuroshiki.

The knight burst forward with an Ignition Boost, despite having no visible boosters, appearing in front of Charl in a single burst as a black blur. The paladin held the sword with both hand as he slashed off her right shoulder wing with his corrupted katana.

Charl's armor, which should have been able to resist the Uchigane's blade, was sliced off easily…It's Knight of Honor-enhanced abilities were clearly shown as Charl let out a stunned gasp as her shoulder shields were ripped through, exposing her to danger. Her only saving grace was that the sword didn't run her through because of the Absolute Barrier…The same barrier that was eating up a huge chunk of her remaining power.

"W-What? My armor is-"

Charl was cut off as the dark warrior punched with the katana in hand, slamming his armored fist into the exposed side of her frontal armor and sending her flying. The knight followed up by jumping after her, grabbing onto her form in mid-air, and body slamming her to the ground.

The Knight thrust his sword deep into her IS' right leg, fortunately missing her real flesh and blood, but damaging the PIC and thrusters installed in her right leg that kept her balanced.

A damage report window blinked into view, blaring in the French girl's face, but she didn't have a chance to assess the damage as her Shield Points dipped into the 20s and continued dropping like a rock in a lake.

The paladin in black then simply kicked her away dismissively, no longer viewing her as a threat. Charlotte Dunois let out a frightened gasp as she landed on the ground several meters away.

Charl's IS had lost all of her Shield Barrier by the last attack, and with no shields, very little power, no proper control, and heavy damage, she could only struggle futilely to even move her IS in protest as the knight gripped her by the neck as he crouched over her, while his cable wires swaying behind him positioned themselves than stabbed into her armor.

"HUH?" Charl gasped as the cables seems to leer at her…why she felt that despite the fact he cable blades have no eyes are mystery. The cables postioned themselves in some manner and the tension grow so thick that Charl just know she is not going like the next part.

"**Gauhhh…"**

_Vingg!_ the cables glowed red as they interfaced.

_Cha-ka!_ And they connected into her system with brute force that worked perfectly.

Charl stared into the glowing crimson visor of the knight. In her close proximity she could see the knight's armor in considerably greater detail…and it frightened her even more.

The knight pulled her towards him…and roared into her face.

"**! GUUUAGHHHHHHHH!"**

The sheer force of his bellow caused her whole body to vibrate, and the air joined her, seeming to tremble at the very force of the knight's anger, while dust whipped around them. The cables impaled into Charl's Revive Custom let off red sparks…and the pain hit her.

"Ha-hwaaaaaa! Gu…Guaaahhhaaa!" she shrieked as her IS shook, with sharp jolts of electricitysparking over her form as her systems were overloaded and overwritten by tiny invading mechanical organisms.

[R-Rafael…Revive….Experiencing….Difficulty…Protection wall….Breached…System control….54%...accessing Bus Slot Armory….Failed….retry…Password failed…Password failed…System overwrite…Armor engaging….Gram materializing.]

From the black knight's hand a dark billowing light appeared and shimmered before dispersing and revealing an IS machinegun. The knight pointed the firearm in his hand at the floating blue IS and fired at Madoka.

Madoka wore a horrified face as she witnessed her newest friend's beatdown. She knew that Charlotte was a very skilled pilot, having seen her capabilities during practice and a short scuffle with Laura the other day, but the French girl had been overwhelmed by the knight from the second they'd neared each other. The youngest Orimura ground her teeth hard as she burst into evasive maneuvers that she had practiced since she had gotten her personal IS.

She dodged the oncoming bullets which for some reason were now glowing red instead of the usual blistering yellow.

The Silent Zephyrs dodged and zipped around the trails of bullets as it covered the distance. Madoka quickly returned fire, but the knight confidently stood his ground, not even bothering to dodge her shots.

The Knight stabbed the katana in his hand into the ground to free it in order to access more weapons from Charl's armory. He pulled out an Anti-IS grenade, a special grenade made to not only damage Absolute Barriers, but also cause short range electrical pulse in an IS to mess up its functions.

He also summoned an IS-Stunt grenade; Shine of Friday, which overloaded Hyper Sensory systems, along with several IS smoke screens, the Cloud of Tuesday. A special device which created smoke screen that not only blocked sight, but also obscured heat and electric signals. It was a useful stealth tool. The grenades were all connected by metal wires, so holding them all together was easy.

The knight lazily tossed the grenades at his current opponent. They were all clustered together so if Madoka moved away fast enough, she could avoid the blast, but in a flash he summoned the Rain of Wednesday, a close to mid-range IS Shotgun, and fired the gun with one hand, ignoring the recoil and technical difficulties.

The shotgun shell struck the grenades in mid-air and the explosion of furious fire and metal shards damaged Madoka's IS and took her attention away from the knight. In addition the electronic hampering, delaying, and overall irritating features of the other grenades slowed her down further.

The moment the BIT using pilot became occupied, the knight dropped the now unconscious Charlotte Dunois like a used toy and looked toward Laura, who was still not too high in the air as she preferred to hover near the ground in combat.

Laura felt his gaze on her as she leveled her cannons again.

She opened fire at the knight, but the knight was once again fast on its feet.

The knight performed all five rules of dodge ball as he did the song and dance of duck, dodge, slide, jump and etc. The black maelstrom couldn't be stopped by a hail of laser blasts and bullets, so there was no way a single shot rail-gun cannon would stop him, even if its ammunition was faster than the previously mentioned projectiles.

The black blur covered the distance between them in record time, but that was what the German girl wanted.

"Now I've got you!" she declared as she raised her arm to capture the black fiend in her AIC, the most powerful restriction an IS could cast.

The dark paladin threw the gun in his hand at her while leaping to the side. Laura's AIC ensnared the stolen gun in mid-air for a split second.

_Bing….BOOOOMMMM!_

And protected her from the explosion of the corrupted gun, which was black with red veins. Fortunately, her field of absolute immobilization contained the explosion. Her AIC was not all powerful…Once the target was in her sight, she focused on that, therefore if there was ever an obstacle in her way, her control waned. But in a more optimistic manner, her mistake saved her from the exploding firearm.

But Laura Bodewig was not an optimistic person…She was a stone cold solider.

Laura cursed as the smoke got in her way and robbed her of her vision for a precious few seconds…the few seconds that determined the fight.

Laura's eyes widened as she felt a presence behind her…

Laura was a soldier…her training made her a better warrior than all the other students in the IS Gakuen. She showed the difference between her skill and the others as she spun on her heel in time to block a slash from behind with her plasma sabers.

Laura grinned as she dodged his sneak attack and slashed back with her own blades.

_Clank! Clank! Clank!_

The stolen and corrupted katana was unusually sharp, she admitted that…However…

_Whhosh! Clank! Clank! Whoosh!_

Her plasma sabers are just much better than a high vibration sword.

The two warriors' blades clashed again and again. Their fight was confined to a small area, neither of them using long, wild maneuvers or ranged attacks, relying only on their blades and their skills.

Laura was putting considerable effort into her attacks, because despite being rooted to the ground the knight had agility and mobility that put her IS to shame. It was like it had a small booster in its legs allowing it to perform a miniature Ignition Boost that let it move in a single short burst.

Also her skill with bladed weapons was exceptional, but right now she wasn't holding a blade by hand, but had blades attached to her arms. There are a lot of techniques that can be used in such a manner, but at same time, some of her other techniques and abilities are not optional in this stage.

_Clank! Clank! Clank!_

The knight was overrun by madness known only to him, but his fighting instincts and senses were peerless. His instincts spoke to him.

'Seek her out…this girl is in the way…get rid of her.'

And he shall obey…He can feel it…She is here…No, they are BOTH here…his senses are telling him that two people he left behind are here…A short distance away…He needed them…Why? He can't recall…But there are two women he once knew…Two women he had had, but no longer…And he wanted them back.

Want them! Want Her!

Want them! Want Her!

Want them! **Want Her!**

**Want them! Want Her!**

**HIS! ALL HIS! TAKEN AWAY BUT NOW HERE!**

"**GUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"**

The knight roared into the sky, arms outstretched, as he emitted his loudest bellow yet, shaking the air around him and cracking more than a few windows, the sheer force of his fury made those nearby feel as though an uncomfortable and frightening weight had fallen onto their shoulders. More than a few of those people clamped their hands over their ears with pained grimaces. His dark, blurry shroud flickered before billowing around him like a small, localized storm.

The knight extended his right hand into the air and flicked down.

Laura raised her eyebrows in confusion.

_Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!_

Until her alarm warned of her a projectile approaching right above her head. It was falling too fast for her to dodge while dealing with the knight, so she took the next best option.

Driven by her fighting instincts she raised her right hand into the air to cast her AIC to stop the falling projectile, which proved itself to be one of the two stolen BITs from Silent Zephyrs. The lone Shield Bit.

Laura praised herself for not falling for the distraction and repelling the knight's slash attack with his sword. Anyone else might have panicked and turned their eyes away from the real threat…No…If she was never trained by Orimura Chifuyu…That goddess in human form, she might have fallen for the Knight's deceit and been defeated right here.

"Not good enough!" she yelled as she swung her left plasma blade at her opponent, but the knight only roared…and the pitch black shield drone within the AIC began to shudder as its red veins glowed even brighter.

Laura's hyper sensor picked up the unusual energy build up in the BIT.

"…!"

Laura realized too late its significance as the BIT exploded above her. She was too far away to be damaged by the explosion, but she'd been engulfed in smoke.

Laura cursed herself for being tricked.

She quickly removed her eye-patch to expand her field of vision, revealing a golden eye with no iris, her miniature Hyper Sensor, designed to boost her own sensory system, and improve her overall efficiency in her IS.

But her opponent had begun moving before she removed her eyepatch, and was behind her by the time it had been removed. Thanks to her enhanced 360 degree vision, she instantly spotted him… behind her, and charging towards her sword in hand.

With her back exposed to an expert of an enemy…her fate was determined in the difference of a second.

Laura spun, slightly faster than before, bringing both plasma sabers around, one to deflect any of his strikes or ward him off, and the other to slash at him.

"**Guaahhh…."** The knight ducked beneath the condensed and concentrated blade of plasma, allowing it to fly over him, kneeling down in a low angle sword stance, his back turned to the side and his hands holding the sword in a thrusting position.

Laura was very skilled, but she rarely ever used her Hyper Eye Sensor, and thus hadn't completely adjusted to her improved senses when she reacted to the knight. She had moved too fast, and overextended, her right arm went too fast, too far, and the rest of her form went with it for just a second as she swung away from the dark warrior.

The moment the girl overextended her swing…the dark paladin burst into action as he dashed around to take her back once more, spinning with his sword in hand and positioned for a thrust.

His mind was frenzied, a torrent of sounds and words echoed within him…His spirit was drowning in the madness as he buried himself in it…However…Deep within his subconscious lurked the real Orimura Ichika…And he fed his wild side the whisper of promise.

'They're here…let's return to them now.'

The beast agreed. His thrust changed course from death…to absolute victory.

* * *

To Laura, it all happened so fast.

One moment she was exchanging slashes with the knight and the next she was surrounded by smoke from the self-destruction of an English 3rd Gen IS remote drone.

And another second later, the enemy had taken her back...

_Whoosh! Clank! Puup!_

And now she found her floating right shoulder armor impaled by a katana which has been tainted black and riddled with red veins. Laura let out a grunt as her alarms blared out warnings and damage reports. Her IS's performance dropped sharply.

Most of the knight's cables impaled themselves into the black heavy artillery Infinite Stratos' shoulders and arms, and the knight was gripping her before him, a shield against Madoka.

Laura grunted in pain, but refused to scream, when suddenly the knight pulled the sword out of her shoulder, causing sparks to fly.

_Whoosh! Clank!_

The paladin sliced off the Rail Cannon on her shoulder with a single swing.

_Fliiiii! Clink!_

The black cable wires whipped around like snakes as several detached from Laura's arms and wrapped around her detached Rail Cannon, before bringing it up.

"**Guaaaahhhh!"** the knight roared, grabbing the end of the rail cannon and pointed it toward Laura. The German girl raised her eyebrow at the action and quickly raised her hands to use the AIC…Only to curse as the cannon took a darker black shade and sported red veins all over it.

She tried to cast the AIC, but the screen for system errors appeared…Her system had been infected by a virus.

"…Du Hurensohn (You son of a bitch)…."

The knight held the cannon with both arms while the cables stabilized it….and fired.

_Vooosh! BoooM!_

Laura was sent flying as her own cannon was used against her. Her IS was already battered and her shield was low. The last blow that hit her point blank was the straw that broke the camel's back.

The German IS smashed into the opposite wall. The suit let out sparks as the impact dented and bashed away at it.

The tiny soldier tried to move her limbs, but her IS was too damaged and now showing various problems. The unit's nerve responses were down and it refused to move as easily as it should. The PIC was damaged, so the auto hover is down.

A screen appeared in front of her that read "shield level….18 and dropping"…. She was no longer suited for combat.

"KUSO!" she cursed as she slammed her fist against the ground.

She could only watch as the black monster leveled his cannon at the only remaining IS on the field…And fired.

'Why is this happening! It was so simple! Beat the crap out of Bodewig and fight my sworn sister Houki with pride, honor, and all that good stuff! Not get beat up by a medieval tin can!' Madoka fretted as she dodged an electromagnetic cannon shell.

She flew in low to stay at eye level with her opponent and to throw her off with the unexpected movement…

Fat lot of good that did.

_Boom! Boom! Boom!_

Madoka dodged another shot from below with a barrel roll. She took her two rifles and fired as she dodged. Her fingers didn't left her triggers as she tried to drive the knight back.

"Damn you! What does it take to make you fall!"

Her shots were all high concentrated shots from an energy beam weapon. A rapid fire and compact version of the Starlight Mark II in the form of an assault rifle. She forwent accuracy, preferring a higher rate of fire.

However, she couldn't believe that a knight on the ground wielding a fucking cannon was faster and a better shot than her!

She trained her ass off to use her IS damn it!

The knight took the offensive once more as he charged at her armed with a huge cannon under his arm.

"This guy won't quit!"

Madoka formed the best Shield BIT formation she could. She positioned one Shield BIT at the back of her head to protect her blind spot. She then set the remaining four Shield BITs to cover her front and sides in a diagonal angle. She then stationed the three Assault BITs in a triangle formation in front of her.

She then pulled out her two bayonet rifles-

"Let's see you come out of this unscratched you medieval tin can!"

-and opened fire.

A barrage of beams headed for the black knight hidden in the mist, but he didn't pause. The human flesh driven by madness pushed the meat puppet to dodge the oncoming attacks with swift movements that seemed fitting for such a small and thinly constructed IS. Though Madoka had changed her tactics slightly, the result was the same as before. Again and again, the knight flowed around the oncoming beams, whether with grand, dramatic maneuvers, or a few twitches to angle the body slightly out of the path of the shots.

The knight tilted his head slightly to dodge a shot to the face and moved his arm to avoid a stray shot. His movements were like that of a flowing river…it didn't look like he was dodging, but making Madoka shoot where his hands were moving.

"**GUUAAAAAHHHHH!"**

_Clank! Clank! Clank! Whoosh! Voosh! Clank!_

However…

This dance of theirs was different. Madoka had learned from their previous engagements. She consistently covered all areas around the knight, firing around and above him, not allowing him any avenue to charge through. In addition, she slowly hovered backwards, turning slightly so as to not go into a wall, and not simply standing there as an immobile target. The knight was still flowing around her attacks, and closing in on her, but his progress was slower than before. In addition, the distance between the two combatants was now less than ten meters, and even he couldn't continue to effortlessly dodge all those shots at such a close range. He was beginning to take glancing blows, some closer than others. In this situation, he only has one real option.

Attack.

The knight…The IS, Kurokishi's armored claw started to glow red as all its energy focused to it, covering it with a sheen of crimson energy, in a manner not unlike a plasma heat sword.

The knight jumped into the air, enduring the hail of attacks from Madoka as his body was hammered, while he soared towards her, before pulling his arm back-

_WHOOSH! VOOOSH!_  
-and stabbing it forward like a spear…straight into the energy shield of the BITs.

Madoka grit her teeth as she felt the impact. Her IS shook at the sheer force of her enemy's attack, but she held her position.

"Like I'll fall for that trick again!"

Her defense was effective. Even if by some unlikely reason it fell, she still had enough time to jump back to counter. However that is if her shield holds….

The plasma glove function of the gauntlet was not only meant to increase its cutting power. It also is the same energy emitted by the nano-bots of the Knight of Honor ability. The same sort of disruptive energy.

The claw in assault mode couldn't steal other's equipment, but it did have the ability to disturb enemy structures… Structures as in energy structures…Such as Absolute Barriers or beam shields…

The Paladin's aim was not the Silent Zephyrs, but the shield itself.

_PAAAAACCCHHHIII!_

"Huh?" Madoka stared. There was a claw-like hand in front of her, glowing red. While that in itself isn't exceptionally odd, the fact that said hand was attached to an armored gauntlet surrounded by blurry black shroud was. And the oddity of the situation was compounded by the fact that the aforementioned gauntlet was piercing her shields…and the shimmering pink energy field was slowly…_disintegrating_ around the arm.

"Guah!" Madoka let out as she suddenly breathed again. She hadn't even realized she'd stopped breathing when the arm burst through her shields.

Everything was still for a moment.

And then with a sharp roar the knight smashed his claw through the breached barrier, impacting the midsection of Madoka's IS.

[Critical damage! Level B damage to main body…System losing stability…Barrier generator critical damage! Failure to recuperate! Initiating backup generator system…Armor breach! Armor breach! Prioritizing the pilot's safety…]

"Huh?"

She looked down and saw the claw had reached her chest armor…and the Silent Zephyrs' armor was cracked and damaged.

"**GUUAAAAHHHH!"** The knight howled, as the cable whips on his back burst into action, slashing, impaling, and simply destroying the BITS around him. This time he did not go for capture, but termination.

4 Shield BITs and 2 Assault BITs were destroyed.

The remaining two Assault and two Shield BITs tried to defend Madoka, but the knight took a step into her guard and buried his hand into her armored chest, further damaging the Silent Zephyrs' armor. The red visor of the knight flared with crimson light as he spun around to perform a spinning back hook kick to take out one BIT followed by a spinning hand slash to slice the other in half. He finished up by back kicking Madoka onto her rear.

"Ow! Itai itai…!" But she was not even given the time to nurse her bruises as her enemy jumped on top of her.

The knight began beating his fists against her chest in a wild rage.

"**GGUUUAAAHHH!"**

_POW! BASH! BAM!_

"AGGHHH!"

Each blow was rattling her head under her helmet as Silent Zephyrs's shields steadily decreased. Her entire body ached, but thanks to the Absolute Barrier she was not crushed by the armored fists. Madoka tried to get back up and reach for her rifles, but they were snatched away by the whipping cables, and honestly…she was pinned down real good this time. Her IS strained, nearly out of energy and its armor being crushed.

"Hahh….Hah…What is going on….WHAT ARE YOU DAMN IT?" yelled the first year student, but her only answer was a beastly howl.

"**Guuaahh….GGAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"**

His punches continued to dent her already destroyed armor, only her Absolute Barrier saving her from dying.

"I can't lose here…."

_Pow! Pow! CRASH! CLANK!_

"I can't die! HE TOLD ME TO LIVE ON!"

As if finally noticing the annoying barrier, the knight grabbed her damaged chest armor and forcefully ripped part of it away.

Madoka tried to pry the hands off of her, but quickly realized the extent of her exhaustion. She lacked the strength to fight the knight. Her body was too stressed and exhausted by the match and her fight with the knight.

Madoka clenched her fists and punched the knight in the helmet….But it didn't even budge him, and he simply continued to rip her armor off of her…She felt a breeze against her leg…Her armor there was gone!

Madoka yelled for help, but her cries were suppressed by the bellows of the paladin as he continued to strip away her protection.

"**Guuuaaahhhhh! Raaahhhhhhhhh!"**

"…Help…."

"**Guuaahhhh!"**

"…Help me…"

_Clank! Pow!_

"..Help me…"

"**Guuuahhhh!"** the dark demon bellowed as he raised his fist.

"**HELP ME! ICHIKA-ONICHAN!"**

_Whoosh! BLAM! Whirr! Clank!_

The Knight was smacked aside by a double kick to the head and sent flying. The knight rolled across the harsh field and slammed into the wall, destroying it and causing a large fall of it to collapse on him with a crash.

As the knight was immobilized Madoka weakly looked up to see who was daring enough to attack the thing that took on four personal ISs and won. Her eyes blurred, but she could make out the outline of the IS in front of her…It was an Uchigane…And its pilot was…

"Yare yare…These school events are cursed. This is the second time an official school match has been interrupted."

"…Chifuyu-Neesama…"

Orimura Chifuyu…Had appeared!

* * *

In a flying stealth carrier, Queen of Iron, which was hidden from sight and other sensors…In the very command room of said stealth carrier…A certain mother smiled evilly.

"Hee…Hee…"

Next to her, her loyal commander Squall let out a cold sweat.

"…Reiha-sama?"

"HeeHAhahahahahahahahaha!"

"Reiha-sama!" Squall exclaimed, concerned. She reached for her leader, but was rewarded with a backhand to the face. The commander of the ship fell backwards to the floor, her cheek red from the smack.

"There is no need to worry…Squall…" Reiha stated as her voice turned to ice.

"HAI!" the woman declared dropping to her knee submissively.

Reiha stared at the main screen in front of here. At the moment it displayed the ongoing battle in real time. She'd watched as her son decimated all the so called skilled pilots that represented their sovereign nations. They were pathetic. She actually giggled when her younger failure of a daughter tried to match the perfection that was her son. Despite his madness, he dominated the fight…As expected. She especially enjoyed watching her son tear the Silent Zephyrs to pieces, up until her older failure of a daughter intervened.

A cunning coward! She lacked what it took so she attacked from behind! Well, that is to be expected …After all, Chifuyu is only good when it comes to fighting the common people…Compared to herself…Compared to Ichika…She is nothing!

"But this is very interesting…Chifuyu…You've showed up at the most appropriate time…Yes…Heroes show up late do they not? But this is one villain that doesn't get slain…This is a villain that is no villain, but a king…and kings don't lose…They conquer, destroy, and dominate everything beneath their heels and return home victoriously…and reap the reward of battle in lust and gold…" Reiha smiled pleasantly.

'Fuufufufufu…Chifuyu…For taking Ichika away from me and tainting him with your filth….I'll allow my oh so noble son to end your life. I'll enjoy watching the life drain out of your eyes and your body be violated and burned…Your death will not be that of a warrior, but that of a _dog_. Good bye…my taint of shame.'

* * *

Orimura Chifuyu braced herself, using her high vibration katana to block a bone shattering punch. She expertly slid back with the punch to reduce its force and didn't bat an eye as she got into a fighting stance.

The undefeated champion who had no recorded defeat in combat expertly took control of the situation by engaging the interloper herself. She'd been watching the fight from the beginning and expected the enemy unit to be running out of power by now, but it was still going strong.

'Most likely this is a military unit with a long term activation time. I don't recognize its weapons and system as belonging to any nations or organization's ISs, so this came from a private company…'

The knight swiped at her with his claw, but Chifuyu used the side of the blade to block and spun around the enemy to deliver a strike to the back of its armored head. However the knight ducked under the blow and back kicked at her.

However, Chifuyu has not acquired her title as the strongest for nothing. She easily saw the kick coming and flipped away to dodge it.

She then burst into a barrage of slashes, aiming for all the weak points of an armored enemy.

She aimed for the neck where the armor was thin, and not covered in plates.

_Clank!_

She stabbed at the eyes, trying to blind him.

_Whoosgh! Voosh! Whir! Crash!_

She aimed at the joints of the arms, shoulders, hips, calves, and knees. The greatest weak point of a fully armored enemy is the joints where the armor is thinnest or not covered for mobility. While the knight had some parts of his body, such as his calves, unprotected by full metal plates, several of his joints were covered by sections of metal that extended from the main armor. Either way, the dark one didn't never let any of her blows connect, and dodged, blocked, or parried every one.

Their blades/fists met again, as they struggled against each other for dominance, before simultaneously breaking off and leaping back. The two combatants eyed one another for a moment, than sprang at each other, the ground beneath their feet cracking as they charged.

Again and again their attacks clashed. The sound of steel fist ringing against steel blade echoed around the arena, and the intervals between pings slowly decreased, as the two warriors moved faster and faster, until they were merely two black blurs with hints of other colors, a storm of black and silver between them as their blades danced with each other, a shower of sparks highlighting them as they connected again and again and again.

The knight suddenly changed tactics, coming in to thrust at Chifuyu with his plasma claw. She dodged the attack by stepping forward and past the strike into the knight's guard, tilting her head to dodge and countering by smashing the butt of her sword into the knight's face.

_CLANG!_

The knight jerked back at the impact, but managed to block the follow-up bisecting blow at his hip with the back of his hand while at the same time thrusting his open palm at her. Chifuyu quickly dodged, but she was not fast enough and her shoulder shield was grabbed by her opponent and partially crushed by his enormous strength. In order to escape from her inopportune position of being restrained, Chifuyu mentally ordered her borrowed Uchigane to remove the float shield. The shield detached from her unit and thus the feedback of its destruction did not affect her Shield point.

The Knight moved toward her for a low slash at her legs, but the Uchigane flipped over the attack. Chifuyu spun in mid-air while slashing at him, and she managed to strike the knight causing sparks to fly, but the dark warrior moved with the blow to stand on his hands and kick at her.

His upside down reverse kick caught her on the side and sent her further into the air. Chifuyu did not resist, allowing the blow to push her away to get some breathing room…

"Hahh, Hah…I'm out of shape."

Chifuyu stared down at the knight as he got onto all fours and growled up at her. It was very strange…All ISs as far she knew had PIC and an inbuilt flying unit, but she had yet to see the dark warrior take flight or hover. What kind of IS was that? Was its manufacturer unable to acquire or create a flying unit? No, that made no sense at all.

Honestly, Chifuyu had never fought an enemy like this. The dark knight's movements were a strange combination of wildness mixed with great skill, and it had no pattern, and she couldn't read his movements.

So she decided to use one of the few valid strategies for dealing with brawlers. She would purposely leave openings for him to take. Even if he didn't realize it, a brawler would instinctively target the opening. Knowing where he would target beforehand, she could take advantage of her foreknowledge and counter accordingly. In the best case scenario, she could defeat him.

However she knew that to purposely leave an opening was exceedingly dangerous. She couldn't imagine who would use such a tactic.

* * *

"Ah…Ah~Cuuu!"

At that time in an immeasurably distant location beyond layers of dimensions and worlds….a certain Emiya Shirou sneezed, almost getting himself torn apart by an armada of flying swords.

"HA! Best not lose your focus, mongrel!" roared a certain King of Hero as he leveled down a horde of metal treasures.

"Mada mada!"

* * *

Chifuyu charged at her enemy once more and the two clashed. One with a sword and the other with an armored fist. The two went at each other in their dance of death, each of their attacks a crippling blow to a real human body…each missing their target thanks only to a well-placed step.

A quick duck to avoid decapitation by a katana.

A back step to employ a spinning heel kick.

A high block of an overhead strike.

A low sword slash parrying a leg slicing slice.

Each attack deadly…each exchange only a hair breath away from a certain critical hit. So fast and furious was their performance that dust swirled around them.

One bore a stoic expression giving nothing away. The other hid his entire face behind a mask, but frustration and rage spilled off him like a fire.

One cool as ice…The other hot as an inferno.

One Yin…The other Yang.

It was a fitting picture indeed.

As her stamina burned up and her borrowed Uchigane strained to keep up with her speed and capabilities, Chifuyu decided to go for the finishing blow.

The two for them exchanged blows for quite some time…The enemy should have a feel for her style and gotten used to her speed.

The knight should be more occupied by the exchange and should be drowned in the blood lust to expect a deceit.

'NOW!' thought Chifuyu as she took a step to the side and raised her arm up slightly higher than normal.

She gave nothing away…Her style did not change in any noticeable way…

In one of their exchanges, she purposely lifted her arm slightly higher than necessary to leave her side open. He should have been drawn into targeting her opening. The moment the knight stepped too far to turn back she would take a step back, spin, and drive the butt of her sword right into his temple.

IS or not, the sheer force should knock him unconscious, or at least disorient him enough for her to knock him out for good and thus capture him.

However…

It failed.

"**GUUUAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"**

"W-What?"

_WHOOSH! VOOSH! CLANK!_

Instead of targeting exposing side, the knight dived at her legs. He ignored the sword coming at him and allowed the metal blade to cut at his armored back while he lunged at the elder Orimura sister's legs.

Chifuyu didn't realize her mistake until the knight grabbed her from below and knocked her into the air. She was soon caught in a bear hug with her arms trapped underneath the knight's. She was pinned to the mad monster's chest.

Her face was staring at the black chest plate of the enemy, and even as she struggled with all her might to escape, she expected the dark demon to squeeze her to death.

"**GUAHHHHH! GUUUAHAAAHHHAAAHAHHHAAAA! MAAAUUUUGHHHHNNN!"** the knight bellowed out, the very vibrations of his roar shaking the air around him and disorienting the dazed Chifuyu even further.

Chifuyu felt the knight tightening his grip on her as her IS strained against the force tightening around it. She was still intact, but her suit was suffering badly.

However…something was wrong.

Normally bear hugs are used to pin the opponent's arms to prevent retaliation and concentrate more force against a single point on the target's body. By all means he should be trying to break her back. **"GGGAAHHHH! CCCCHHHHIIIII! CCCHHHHIIIII! MAAUUIGGGGHHHN! ****MAAUUUIIIIIIGGGGHHHHNNNNN!"**

Despite the severity of the knight's roar, he wasn't exerting nearly as much pressure as he obviously could. One of his hands was on her lower back palm first, and such a positioning was not ideal for crushing an enemy. His other hand was at the back of her head pushing her against him…But not to break her neck or crush her head…

If looked at from afar… it looked like the dark knight was _embracing_ Chifuyu.

* * *

(In the airship)

Orimura Reiha crushed the glass holding her wine, spilling it over her hand and onto the floor, along with the glass shards.

Her eyes narrowed. "…He is not going to kill her…"

This was something she'd feared…

That bitch….That bitch Chifuyu's poison is deep within her precious Ichika's heart and it refused to die!

Even now in his madness her son is displaying undeserving love and comfort towards those failures…There he is hugging Chifuyu…and before he was straddling her youngest and was dominating her as his prize (via striping of her armor…kind of like a barbarian warlord taking a female warrior by force by defeating her)

NO! Sh can't allow this…She is Orimura Reiha and his affection should belong to her! Not to them! Never to them!

Reiha's eyes were like daggers as she emitted a killing intent so thick that the entire bridge crew broke out sweating, feeling a disturbing weight on their shoulders.

The leader of Phantom Task lifted her delicate hand up into the air, displaying a thin bracelet on her wrist. It was smooth and a dim silver color.

The silver piece of jewelry shined for several seconds as green symbols appeared around it.

Reiha kissed the bracelet and spoke.

"Prometheus System…activating… passcode…[**Mother knows best for her little Ichika**.]"

Suddenly the bracelet glowed brighter than before until it shined red, and a red gem rose up. It projected a wide holographic screen in front of her that displayed a symbol of three flower petals spinning in a lazy circle.

[Which selection do you require?] A flat monotone emitted from the bracelet.

"The Command Seal."

[…Approved.]

Reiha brought the bracelet to her lips and gave her command.

"BY the power of the Command Seal…My son, Ichika…Shy away from the poison whispering into your ears and return to me. Return to kaa-sama, my child…"

The three spinning petals shone brighter…

And on the screen that displayed the ongoing events at the IS Academy Arena, her son froze.

"And my will is done…"

The Command Seal was a program within the Prometheus system designed to gain control of the experimental 3rd generation Infinite Stratos, the Kurokishi.

Since her son became a berserker, Reiha ordered a submission program implanted in her son's IS, in case she had to get Ichika back under control if he went on a rampage or attempted to escape.

The program sends a signal to the Kuroshiki, taking control of it and enslaving it to her will.

The system is incomplete, and if used too often the Kuroshiki could develop immunity to it. Therefore, it is only meant to be used in an emergency.

The IS' self-improvement system made by Shinonono Tabane could ruin everything, but to turn it off means to weaken her son…But in her defense, the longer her son hugged Chifuyu the more her blood would boil and the greater the chance of him being captured …Might as well bring him home…And teach him that mommy is the best. One way or another.

* * *

Chifuyu was confused when the knight suddenly threw her aside roughly. She watched him clench its head and shake it around like he was in a great deal of pain. He started swinging his arms around, taking a step here or there rather erratically. It was like he was fighting against something only he could see.

The knight roared in fury, but it didn't appear to be directed at her.

He scratched at his neck and clawed at his helmet. The dark mist that shrouded him was no longer waving around him, but raging and slashing at the air, as if in agitation.

Chifuyu was confused, but she was never one to not take advantage of an opening. She slammed into the knight shoulder first, knocking him on his back, before putting her katana at his throat.

"Don't you fucking move! I need you alive and I can make you wish you were dead so don't test me!"

"Ghh…Gah…"

The dark warrior seemed to be… struggling with himself. The instant he moved Chifuyu swung her blade down, but it was caught between the armored gloves of the knight. He struggled against her, and despite her advantageous position, Chifuyu was having a hard time of it.

The knight snapped the katana in two with a twitch of his hands and backhanded the former champion away.

The knight of the dark shroud roared once more, his howl sending chills down on all those who heard it, but the paladin's movements were slow and sluggish now…It seems not even the mightiest warrior is invincible.

The man underneath the armor of the knight turned to a glowing red screen to his side…The warning system blared at him, indicating the incoming enemy units.

The only male living Orimura narrowed his wild eyes at the screen and stomped the ground in rage, incidentally cracking it beneath his foot. He glanced up to see a group of the Academy's Revive mass production models lead by a single personal unit…An IS with sky blue armor wielding a large joust lance in hand.

"Tatenashi Sarashiki calling all units, surround and capture. I repeat, surround and capture. Avoid getting the first years down there involved. Also, I want a unit to deliver Orimura-sensei a new katana and retrieve the younger Orimura, I don't think she can even move right now."

"Roger that Council Prez, over and out." one of the third years responded as she broke formation and headed down to the weaponless teacher and her injured sister.

* * *

(Phantom Task)

Watching the unfavorable odds approaching her son, the leader of the Phantom Task stood up from her seat.

"I want all the units prepped for combat! Squall!" shouted the older version of Chifuyu.

One of her more useful commanders kneeled before her at her call.

"Hai!"

"I want the Knight Phantasm to deploy immediately! Tell them if my son does not return, I will strip them of all forms of dignity and make them wish for a slow death! If they are my son's Royal Guard, then I want results!"

"Yes milady!"

From the launch bay of the air hip, several ladies in black tights were standing around. Each had their personal IS suit on their person and on their arms were bracelets that were in fact, the standby form of their IS.

One of the girls was a blond girl named Tomoe Mami. Her hair was in two curls on the side and the hairs on the back were in a bun with a hair tie to tie them up. She wore a black tight IS suit with an emblem of two swords crossing a shield. She looked to be around 16 to 17, maybe a little older. She pulled on her glove as she turned to see a red haired girl of similar age approaching her. Her brown eyes shined in the dark.

"Oya? Kyoko-san? I thought you would be sleeping in your room like the lazy sloth you are. I would have never dreamt of you showing up on time."

The other girl, Sakura Kyoko, turned to the blonde with a tick mark on her forehead.

"Ahhhh? You've got some mouth Mami. You want me to sew it together?" the red head sneered, a cocky grin on her face.

This girl had ember eyes, red head, and a personality to match it as one of Orimura Ichika's personal guards…A Knight Phantasm. Her crimson red hairs were tied back in a ponytail and she wore spear tip like earrings. She was wearing the black IS suit, but unlike Mami's full suit, Kyoko's lacked the sleeves.

"My, my, such a threat. However ,I highly doubt you have such sewing skill. You're too much of a boar to do so. Hohohohohhohoho." Mami laughed as Kyoko fumed.

"Why you…This is a good opportunity! Ryuuzetsu is not here and Ichika-sama is no longer here to save your weak ass. Why don't I do everyone a favor and kill you!"

Mami narrowed her eyes and in her hand appeared a god forsaken flintlock pistol with a thin sword attachment, while Kyoko pulled out a medieval style halberd with artistic designs and shape.

As the two were about to kill each other a gun shot rang between them, forcing them to jump back. The two of them turned to see Ryuuzetsu Shion in her personal IS, Revive Gorin no Taijun (Peaceful Shield of One's Scale) Custom. Her IS had grey and dark color scheme and its customization is…massive.

The two shoulder shields were replaced with two long shields, which were much longer and wider than the standard shield. On her back were two sets of packages and her chest armor was thicker. The broader shield displayed spikes on the outside and the long curve blades on both sides. Her IS' form seemed heavier than that of a normal Revive, but it was just as sturdy and powerful. The unit was also equipped with high density beam weapons.

The silver haired girl within the armor of a giant scowled at the two girls.

"Sakuya Kagura! Tomoe Mami! Enough! We are launching in less than two minutes so deploy your ISs already!"

"Hai!"

"Wakarimashita!"

The two girls who were seconds away from tearing into one another simultaneously deployed their ISs in a matter of seconds.

When they were off duty, all gloves are off…But in middle of a mission…they are champions alone, unbeatable together…Just as Ichika wanted it.

Ryuuzetsu looked around and frowned.

"Where is Miki?"

"Hmph, knowing that loser, she must've gotten lost or chickened out. We all know that without Ichika-sama to spoil her all the way, she's weak and useless. I'm surprised she is even one of us. That disgrace." Kyoko stated, crossing her arms over her chest. The proud spear woman's dislike for the so-called Miki was clear as day.

"Oh. There she is now." Mami said as a girl with short blue hair and two yellow hairpins came running towards them.

"Sumimasen! I forgot to bring my IS!"

"YOU FOOL! A SINGLE IS UNIT IS WORTH MORE THAN YOUR LIFE! BE GRATEFUL THAT YOU WERE EVEN GIVEN A CORE AND TAKE CARE OF IT!" roared Ryuuzetsu Shion, causing the new girl to cower in fear.

"H-Hai!"

Kyoko snickered, but stopped when she saw the glare from Miki Sayaka, another member of Knight Phantasm.

"What?"

"I can't prove it, but I know it was you who hid my Uchigane Ho no Kinpai (Pennant of Dedication) Custom…."

"Well good thing you don't have any proof, not that it matters anyway."

"Why you-"

Sayaka glared at the older girl by one year, gritting her teeth.

In the Knight Phantasm, rank was determined by power and leadership skills. Among them all the Knight Captain Ryuuzetsu Shion held the highest rank and Tomoe Mami and Sakura Kyoko held the second and third rank respectively. However, the distance between the top three and any lower ranks is quite high. Usually weaker members of Knight Phantasm don't get to fight alongside top three on important missions.

The only reason Miki Sayaka was with them is that before resigning from command and becoming…unstable…Their leader Ichika-sama favored her potential.

Her skills were rather lackluster compared to the likes of Kyoko or Mami, but her master insisted on her being teamed with the top three…Let's just say that the lower ranks were envious and Sakura Kyoko was not amused.

As for the bad blood between them…Sakura Kyoko picks fights with everyone…

"You could be more considerate Sakura-senpai!"

"Oh? And for what? I clearly don't see the problem. Do you?"

Before a fight could break out again Shion clapped her hands to get their attention.

"Listen up ladies, because this is a rank A assignment! Our mission is to retrieve Ichika-sama and Unit LZ003-Kurokishi. Ichika-sama is currently under the Command Seal, but the IS Gakuen's defense team has been mobilized and even Orimura Chifuyu has enter the battle. The chances of Ichika-sama as he is right now escaping alone are slim. Our job is to get him back, but not get in a pitched battle! Am I clear?"

"YES MA'AM!"

"Good…We're launching now!"

* * *

**The newly introduced girls are actually character from the magical girl anime. I loved the characters' design and personality and thought a little darker version will do just fine in my fic. **

**I am going to have alot of fun with my next chapter.**

**By the way, the bit where I wrote in parenthesis is about how currently, everyone thinks that only females can be IS pilots, so that is why they thought of the black knight/it's pilot as female.**

**Please review for your reviews feed me.**

**Also, I like to ask the readers if I should reveal Ichika to his sisters?**

**The choice is this.**

1) Show his face and escape.

2) Don't show his face and escape.

3) Don't show his face, but imply that he is who is he.

**Normally I would make a poll, but I never done it before and this way only I get to know the result. You may review or PM me and I'll honestly finish up the chapter as the readers requests.**

**SO REVIEW!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Wow, this took a lot of effort. Lookie lookie how long it is. And it took a month to get it out too…Sorry it took so long.**

**I am very proud of this chapter and I like to Thank my beta reader Eva-Saiyajin for this effort and additions.**

**By the way, I have a new set of challenge post on my profile page, and I like to promote more writers to write Muv Luv based fanfics. That subject needs more attention. By the way I too am in the middle of writing a new fic for Muv Luv. See the anime, read all the manga, try the game, watch the playthrough and write one.**

* * *

Ch4

* * *

"This is a lot more action than I thought I'd see…" Sarashiki Tatenashi murmured as she hovered high in the sky, watching as her 3rd year squad in standard Revive units leveled their weapons at the knight in black.

Today was supposed to a simple show case for the big wigs and a lot of old people with a lot of bling blings that the IS Gakuen was still producing the finest pilots, more than any private military.

It was meant to be a show for 3rd years to be hired, 2nds to be observed for future opportunity, and finally the first years to be displayed to be aware of. Heck, she even made it a 2 on 2 battle to spice things up…She was sure that she never got to have that much fun on her first year.

But it all changed in the first round…things fell apart from the very beginning.

The four girls, three of them personal IS users and one regular clashed in an epic battle…but it was interrupted by the sudden inference of a knight shrouded in darkness. This mysterious stranger who posed weapons and unidentified IS easily took apart the 4 first years.

True, the freshies hadn't reached their full potential, one of them didn't even have a personal unit and the best of them was a lone wolf( A cute silver wolf mind you), but they weren't to be underestimated.

Imagine her surprise when the wild knight tore them apart one by one…It was scary to say at least.

Now here she is…facing down the clearly weakened knight as he is now surrounded and pinned with nowhere to run…but through her team of course.

She doubts that the knight can fight back now; he'd been softened up by the infamous Orimura Chifuyu after all. Come to think of it, that was the first time she'd seen the teacher fight in years.

**"****Guuahhh…"** the knight growled below her.

The Knight was sluggishly moving toward the teacher below who was wordlessly facing him. The Knight's shroud is agitated and flickering, but the Knight himself was slow…and slow means weak.

"All units, shoot to incapacitate, I repeat shoot to incapacitate."

"ROGER!"

The Revives surrounded the knight from above and pulled out compact assault rifles called Backwater, a multi-purpose rifle, and opened fired at once. The storm of projectiles slammed into the knight from all directions bashing him around like a leaf in a hurricane.

She'd seen what the knight was capable of. He wasn't fresh, but she knewhe was capable of at least _trying _to dodge, and would probably do quite well. As it was, the dark paladin didn't even seem to be paying attention them.

What on earth was going on with him?

* * *

March…March on!

Return…Return to the voice!

Within the madness of his mind Orimura Ichika heard the impulsive calling deep within him.

His soul demanded he march forward…the gift he lost…the treasure he was forced away from was so close to him…What he truly desired was within his grasp once more.

However…

His body refused to disobey…His flesh insisted on moving forward, but the armor cast on his body wished to turn away. It was as if he was moving in actual steel armor from the medieval era…heavy, inelegant, and useless…Nothing like his IS. To both warrior and beast, it was like walking in deep water, struggling through quick sand, and crawling in mud.

The burden…it was so heavy…

"Fight it…We're so close…" urged a soft voice…the voice of the real Orimura Ichika. His calm and gentle whisper urged the berserker forward.

"I don't wish to quit here. So Kurokishi…Just this once help me out. Just a little bit more…just a little bit more…

[…Acknowledged…Suppressing Command Seal…failure…analyzing nano-bots…temporally control can be achieved…approved?]

"Yes…"

[Initiating incomplete anti-bodies…Command Seal semi-suppression begin.]

The armor of the paladin of the dark glowed red…and he pounced at the Revives above.

"I'll get him! Junko-chan, cover me!" shouted a female 3rd year as she leveled her rifle at the knight. From the bottom of the rifle popped out a secondary barrel.

"Firing electro-harpoon!" shouted the 3rd year as she opened fire, sending a long, inch and a half thick cable with a long sharp tip flying just to the right of the paladin.

The idea was to use harpoons from multiple units to create a restricting net, and use individual cables on the joints and limbs to tighten the restraints.

However-surprise, surprise-he caught the damn thing.

"What?"

The knight tugged the cable from the Revive and slammed her to the ground with enough force to crack it to splinters. The 3rd year had no chance to even scream as the knight rushed at her and stomped her to the ground hard.

"MAYUMI!" yelled out the 3rd year named Junko. She flew lower to shoot at her enemy in an attempt to save her friend.

"GET AWAY FROM HER YOU BITCH!"

The knight grunted in annoyance before picking up the girl at his feet with his whipping cables and using her as a human shield.

"Kuu-haa!" Mayumi choked in pain as the knight took possession of her equipment with Knight of Honor and used it to blast the incoming Junko, every shot making contact, quickly causing her to fall bonelessly to the ground. The knight roared to the high heavens as he turned to the units above, challenging them.

They replied with rain of bullets.

"This is…interesting." Sarashiki Tatenashi thought as she watched the knight weave and dodge through the rain of hot metal.

The strongest pilot among the students gripped her large lance in hand tightly as she observed the spectacle.

Originally she thought using a squad of long range, multi-purpose ISs, such as 2nd generation Revives would do the trick, but the knight was performing better than she'd expected.

"Utsuho."

"Hai?" came the female voice in her communicator.

"I want the Uchigane squad in here. We're going to have to force her down."

"Roger that. Uchigane squad entering the arena."

She watched as a squad of Uchigane stormed into the arena with high vibration katanas, spears and naginatas in hand.

They surrounded the knight and lined their polearms on the front with shields up, like a Roman legion.

"Attack!"

"HAAAHHHHH!" the girls yelled as they charged, the knight responding with its bone chilling roar.

The next part was a blur as the knight dodged a slash from behind and caught a spear thrust from the side, then used the spear to throw the wielder into a Revive on his right and knock them away.

The paladin then swung his spear to block overhead slashes from multiple units at once.

_CLANK!_

He fell to a knee as his lone spear covered in darkness and red veins held off three katanas and two naginatas.

"I got you!" shouted a girl from behind him as she thrust her spear at the immobile Knight.

**"****Guuahahhh!"** the paladin roared as it burst out of his confinement with a brief Ignition Boost and launched into the air. In mid-air with no flight capability he was an open target; however the knight flipped around in mid-flight, kicked his leg up and pulled his spear back in a throwing position-

**"****GGGUUUUAAAHHH!"**

-and hurled it at an unsuspecting Revive.

_Whooosh! CLANK-POW!_

"Kyaaahhh!" screamed the pilot as it smashed into her and exploded in a blaze of fire. The sheer force of the blast knocked at least two other pilots away, and one was down for the count due to damage.

"Milly! Suromi! Harukaze!" yelled out Tatenashi, but she was greeted by a burst from the Knight's Ignition Boost and a flying side kick.

The Mysterious Lady ran smoothly, using its massive jousting lance to block the incoming kick. The Student Council Prez swung her lance to knock the knight away, however he back flipped into the air.

**"****Guuuaahhhh!"** This time it came down toward her head with an ax-kick.

_Whhooosh! Voosh! Clank!_

The heir of Sarashiki brought her lance up in a high block before pushing the knight away.

"Take this!" she declared vigorously as she leveled her massive lance, Heavy Rain, and activated the inbuilt barrel Gatling gun. The knight spun and twisted around in mid-air as he attempted to evade. Despite his best efforts he was hit a few times.

The dark paladin landed on all fours and growled at the blue IS above. However he was quickly attacked by the Uchiganes and Revives at the same time.

He didn't even glance at them as he was entirely focused on the Russian Representative…and the real prize, Orimura Chifuyu, who was standing in front of the defeated first years.

The knight growled at the attackers swarming him. He punched, kicked, slammed, threw, twisted, and elbowed all attackers aside in flurry of fists and kicks. At that moment he was like a natural disaster as he decimated the experienced 3rd years despite his number disadvantage.

"Eat this!" yelled an Uchigane pilot as she swung her naginata down at the dark opponent. The knight blocked with the shaft with his elbow and forced the pole arm out of the wielder's grasp.

"U-Uso!" let out the girl as the paladin slammed the butt of the naginata into her chest before finishing her off with a backhand to her face.

Suddenly the knight's IS let out a warning sound. [Four friendly units approaching…do not target.]

From the sky four individuals were heading fast toward the IS Gakuen Battle Arena.

"Tomoe, Miki, Sakura. Are you three ready?"

"Roger."

"I am."

"I was born ready! Let's kill them all!"

"I hereby approve of combat action. Our mission is to retrieve Ichika-sama, so how you rip up the pests is up to you. Attack at will, but retreat when order is given."

"ALRIGHT!" exclaimed Sakura Kyoko as she charged down.

"W-Wait! Sakura-san!"

"Arara? It seems the boar is excited." Commented Tomoe Mami as she slowed down a bit.

"Tomoe, cover us."

"Roger." replied the blond haired girl as she raised her hand and a very long IS-rifle materialized in it. It was longer and thicker than Blue Tear's Starlight Mark III.

"Tomoe Mami! 2nd British Generation IS, Lone Tear Seiga no Yobite (Summoner of Starry River) Custom! Covering the Knight Phantasm's advancement!"

That said the blond girl pulled the trigger and released a long and powerful energy beam, creating a concussive burst around the barrel as it blasted toward the arena.

The 2nd Gen IS, Lone Tear is a British IS that was made with absolute long range and sniping capability in mind. The Phantom Task's Piercer of Hidden Arms Custom amplifies and triples her original abilities.

Her IS was a more bare version of Blue Tear's, but with headgear like the Silent Zephr.

The customized head gear improved her aim. The IS itself was equipped with orange armor and the shoulder armor was replaced with very long, wide shields that covered her from top to bottom. The shields were moveable in order to protect her from all sides. (Imagine Dynames gundam's shields but more elegant and feminine.)

While her upper armor was thin, her lower portions were thick, in the shape of a ball-room dress.

Tomoe's beam rifle the _Lock Star Mark II's_ beam attack was fast and fierce as it traveled beyond its shooter and her comrades, pierced what remained of the school barrier and smashed into one of the unsuspecting Revives.

"What the-!?"

The 3rd year students all looked to see more energy beams heading their way. As they dodged, a few of the smarter students used their long distance cameras to search for the shooter.

_Beep…Beep…Beep?_

From their long range scanning they detected an unknown IS…at least 3 miles away.

"3 Miles? Is this real?" Even with an IS, sniping at such a distance is nearly impossible considering all the uncontrollable factors like wind speed and energy compression.

"How are we going to stop thi-?" The 3rd year was knocked out of the air as a pink beam slammed into her and sent her flying.

The unknown shooter wasn't alone.

"I want the Revive team to intercept the incoming units. Command Tower, Intel on the enemies?"

"Hawawawawawa…Let's see…One 2nd generation Lone Tear…Two Uchiganes, and one Revive…But Sarashiki-san."

"What is it Yamada-sensei?"

"All the incoming units indicate as having cores from various countries and they are armed with customized weapons. I don't recognize some of their equipment. Approach with caution."

"Roger that."

The moment she said that a red blur appeared in her vision flying right at her.

"Nani?" Tatenashi swiftly raised her Heavy Lance to block the incoming blow.

"Ehh…IS that all?"

The new arrival swung its limbs and Tatenashi felt at least three blows to her shoulder, thigh, and wrist. Her IS' armor was strong enough to prevent any damage, but the sheer speed of the strikes was incredible.

"HAhh!"

The unknown IS was holding a long spear with a broad tip. The IS itself was a red customized Uchigane. The standard samurai like shoulder shield was replaced with sharp spiky armor. The armored skirt of the Uchigane that surrounds the pilots' legs and thighs was replaced with frontal armor from the hip and a curved coat tail on the back. (Imagine the curvy funnel containing armor used by AMX-004 Qubeley from Gundam Double Zeta, only this one is wider and lower to cover the back of the legs.) The IS's arm and chest armor was more like the original Uchigane design, but the chest armor had a large purple sakura flower design and the arm and back of the hand was covered by thinner armor.

"If that is all ya got than you're dead~ehh!" yelled out the red haired pony tailed pilot as she took another swing at the Student Prez. Tatenashi narrowed her eyes as she used her lance to block the other.

"You're fast. You had me going for a second there." Tatenashi murmured as she turned the Heavy Rain toward the attacking girl while still grinding against the spear and turned on the Gatling gun.

Sakura Kyoko easily back flipped to dodge the point blank attack from the spinning chain gun and put some distance between them.

"Hahh? That IS…Is no mass product. You must be a Representative right? At least someone above a moving target." Sakura Kyoko wondered as she leaned her spear on her shoulder.

"Who are you? What do you want?" demanded Tatenashi as she held her lance forward.

"Who I am is no matter to you." Kyoko stated, smirking widely. "After all, all weaklings are entitled to is screaming in pain and drowning in their stupidity."

"Nani-"

Two more figures arrived.

"What do you think you're doing Kenka no Nagite( Bladed Flower of Slaughter)? Our mission is to retrieve the young lord. Not to pick a fight with Gakuen security." Said the young girl with short blue hair.

"Hahhh? Since when did a rookie have any say in the mission? Do ya wanna die with her Soha no Funite(Waver of Great Billow)?" threatened the recently revealed Kenka no Nagite.

"Enough! Act your ranks you fools!" scolded the 1st of the Knight Phantasm, Ryuuzetsu Shion, Saikyo no Morite (Guardian of the Steady Passage).

"Hai, hai Anee-ja. I got it, I'll not turn the rookie into paste."

"Hey! I'm the 4th rank now! How come I'm still called a rookie!"

"You only got that rank because our lord favored you! I don't know how you seduced him with your flat chest, but-"

"Are you implying he gave me my rank due to sexual favors!? How dare you!"

"ENOUGH! If you don't want to die in next few second I want one of you to hold this Representative off and another follow me to secure the target! AM I UNDERSTOOD?!"

"Hai…Gomenasai…"

"Che!"

Sarashiki Tatenashi looked on, puzzled, bewildered, before the sound of her troops being beaten around by the knight below knocked her focus back.

This situation is not a good one…The black knight is still active, and there are four new bogies in the school airspace. All the VIPs and the students were being evacuated, but there was no telling how many more enemies were out there. Also, none of these girls were using standard ISs, Which implies they're with a group or under the authority of someone who can provide them with technology to customize 2nd generation frames or acquire stolen cores for them.

"Are you…part of Phantom Task?"

The three women stopped yelling at one another as they went silent and tensed.

"As expected of the Russian government. They went straight to gain the hand of the house of Sarashiki ." stated the silver haired girl.

"Arara? You flatter me. You honor me with knowing my name, but I don't know yours."

"Names are meaningless in the veil of the phantoms…But I have been given a title of great honor that even out shines the famed Brunhilde. You may call me Saikyo no Morite."

"Guardian of Steady Passage? My, what a funny title…This onee-chan loves nicknames…" said Tatenashi as she gave a disarming grin.

"I believe I am older by 2 years…little girl." Said Shion as she looked down on Tatenashi from her position, crossing her arms over her chest as she narrowed her eyes.

"However we have a job to do… Kenka no Nagite."

"Hai?"

"Do as you wish…Defeat will not be tolerated."

"Roger that Anee-ja."

"Wait!"

"Ya heard the sista! SCRAM!" roared Kyouko as she dashed in with her back thrusters flaring a mighty burst and clash with the larger lance using pilot in a deadly mid-air deadlock.

At that moment, Ryuuzetsu Shion in her Revive Gorin no Taijun (Peaceful Shield of One's Scale) Custom and Miki Sayaka in her Uchigane Ho no Kinpai (Pennant of Dedication) Custom flew down low to intercept the group of standard Uchiganes and Revives.

Tatenashi dived down to confront them, but she was stopped by a trail of red light nearly hitting her.

She looked back to see the red head pointing her opened palm at her and saw a beam gun barrel attached to the bottom of her arm, under her hand.

"I think you might have a hearing problem, but boss lady decided that I'm to kill you here…So be a good girl and don't turn your back on me." Declared the Bladed Flower of Slaughter.

"Phantom Task…What is your goal here? I doubt you attacked to steal our IS's. There aren't enough of you."

"The hell I know. This started because the head honcho is a little nuts. What we want is our knight back."

"Hoho? So you weren't the ones who sent it? By all means we should capture the unknown core and its unit for investigation."

"That-(She leveled the spear in front of her)-Can't be done.(The spear tip opened up a bit and the spear head turned red with heat and began vibrating quickly)"

The IS used by Sakura Kyouko was known as Uchigane Kaijin(Destruction Blade) Custom. It was built with hand to hand and close range in mind, but after a while it strayed from its original design to become something more. Its armor wasn't the strongest or the thickest. However it was fast and its weaponry was made to pierce the toughest armor.

_WHOOSH! VASH! VASH! VASH! VASH! VASH! VASH!_

Tatenashi was twirling her huge lance in front of her to block the incoming thrusts. The enemy was clearly faster than her, but she was too wild and undisciplined. As the heir of Sarashiki family she'd been trained in various martial arts and disciplines to master her very self before anything else. That teaching served her well as she turned her mighty lance against the very opposite of her control.

_VASH! CLANK!_

Tatenashi knocked aside the spear and moved in to attack. She pulled her arms back to prepare a thrust, but the enemy easily turned to avoid it before she'd even begun to strike. The red customized IS was zipping around like a wasp as it outmaneuvered the blue opposing IS.

"As if, ya dumb ass." The red head taunted as she circled her opponent.

Tatenashi merely smiled. Her IS' Hyper Sensor expanded its search range to cover her surroundings. It than focused entirely on a single target.

A gamble where one blinds oneself from all other threats by focusing on a single spot.

From there Tatenashi 'saw' the red Uchigane Custom's flight path and its flying course…like any other experienced pilot it seems this girl also has a flight pattern that is almost unnoticeable, but still there.

She was making constant sharp turns after a single semi-circle around her target from right out of her own range and the enemy's range.

Using her once in a century genius mind, Tatenashi mapped the course of her enemy's flight pattern and angled herself to be 'blind' to her enemy's potential attack area. The moment she did the redhead's flight changed to an offensive charge from her diagonal right from the back, slightly above her shoulders.

"Hmm…I believe this is check." Said blue haired pilot as the thrusters on her side, back, and other area flared to life as she began to flip, turn, and angle herself into a whole new position…One where she could turn her Gatling gun equipped lance right at the side of the Red head as she blew past, missing her target.

"Huh?"

"I've got you!" yelled the Prez as she charged at the red head, pole-arm thrusting before her. Her position was perfect. With her speed, angle, and the IS' high caliber performance, her attack was too fast and unexpected to dodge or block properly.

It was called Instant Shift. A technique used to turn any situation to your advantage by performing a move that the human body can't imagine by applying the IS's extraordinary performance capability.

The red head's IS frame was right in the open in an impractical position with her side and by extension her back exposed….Than her side thruster burst to life and her main thruster turned off, and the girl was out of the target zone and away from the Russian Representative!

"Nani!"

Instantly afterwards the red IS came back to life entirely, all thrusters armed as she closed the distance between her and the prez in an instant.

_WHOOSH! CLANK!_  
"Tsh!"

The result: Mysterious Lady's left elbow and lower leg was badly cut and burnt by the glowing spear.

Tatenashi's 'Instant Shift' is a testament to mental mastery and exceptional analysis that can be achieved with little preparation time or data. Sakura Kyouko's 'Potential Tamed' is something else entirely.

In truth…the idea of speed is not the maximum velocity a person or object can reach, but the time it takes to accelerate from zero to maximum and decelerate from maximum speed to zero.

Speed…is how fast one's acceleration is and how fast one truly is in a critical moment that determines success or failure.

Among all of Knight Phantasm, Knight of Three, Kenka no Nagite, the infamous Sakura Kyouko is the most talented in reaching her max potential speed and dropping to her minimum in the least amount of time. It was one of many reasons she was recruited by Orimura Ichika as his Spear of Instant Death.

"HAHAHA! DIE!" Kyouko yelled as she thrust her long spear at the blue haired girl's face, but the heir of Sarashiki immediately killed her thrusters and PIC, dropping down to avoid impalement.

Tatenashi followed up by pulling out her Rusty Nail whip sword and swinging it around to ensnare the red head's spear in its sharp segments.

"I have you now." She chirped as she pulled the red head down.

"THE FUUCCCKKK?!" Kyouko yelled, before smirking.

"Oh you naïve shit." The redhead whispered as she suddenly spun sideways in mid-air, a blast of red from her back thruster flaring as she quickly slowed down, her powerful thrusters resisting the pull.

"My turn!"

Kyouko pulled on her spear as hard as she could, Tatenashi detaching Rusty Nail from the spear to avoid being pulled down…But it didn't matter.

"DETACH! SABARC!" Kyouko yelled as her lance suddenly stretched, detached in segments connected by yellow energy chain, and turning into a chain whip.

The snake like weapon arced towards the heir of the Sarashiki family. Tatenashi flew away to avoid it, but it had a longer reach than her Rusty Nail, and-

_Voosh! BAM!_

Kyouko used her Armor of Instant Victory oriented IS to catch up to Tatenash. The Knight of Spear then, in a series of complicated movements, turned the whipping spear into a cage of moving and sneering blades. The cage of segments was rapidly shifting and moving to prevent her escape. And the tip of the spear...the bladed end with the heat vibration blade was whipping about.

"HAHH!"

The whip spear smacked into the Mysterious Lady again and again. Tatenashi was pounded from one end to another. After a few seconds, Tatenashi regained control of herself, and began to parry the blows.

"This kind of trap is nothing." she muttered as she prepared her next move.

"What's wrong princess, getting tough?" teased Kyouko as she swung her handle and the whip enclosed tighter than before, hitting Tatenashi more and more in the enclosed space.

Suddenly the very tip of the Sabarc glowed red, a sign that the Anti-IS Armament Spear, the Sabarc has charged enough to use its more powerful ability.

"Impaling Crimson Heart!" Kyouko declared with a vicious grin as the cage of spear segments quickened its pace.

_Whoosh...! SUWOOOSH! BASH!_

Suddenly the tip of the edge rammed into the chest of the Russian Representative, slamming her away from the cage and towards the sky.

"W-What!?"

"BURN! Boil and be incinerated by my spear! The spear worthy of the armor known as the Destruction Blade! VANISH!" Kyouko cried as her opponent was engulfed in the red light crackling with power and heat.

The smoke that was a result of the explosion's aftermath covered everything in the vicinity and Kyoko closed her eyes to avoid it.

"Hahaha! This is why they call me the Kenka no Nagite! Now go to the Lord Enma and tell him that Sakura Kyouko sent you!" Kyouko exulted as she retracted her spear.

"Sakura…Kyouko…"

"Huh?"

From the smoke a glowing blue hue shone out as it revealed Mysterious Lady covered by a blue, flowing, liquid-like shield, which the Uchigane's hyper sensor confirmed to be water. She was unscratched!

"So your name is Sakura Kyouko…What a lovely name."

Tatenashi spun around a bit as her water shield dispersed.

"…So let me give you my own." Tatenashi leveled her lance once more with waters swirling into being and flowing around around the tip like a small whirlpool.

"I am the IS Gakuen Student Council President…Sarashiki Tatenashi! Pilot of Russian 3rd Generation IS, Mysterious Lady!"

Kyouko stared at the blue head for a moment, and then a nasty smirk spread across her face.

"Finally…someone who's more than a mere punching bag…Very well."

The red knight twirled her spear and readied herself.

"Phantom Task Royal Guard Division, Knight Phantasm 3rd rank! Sakura Kyouko the Kenka no Nagite! And my IS 2nd Generation Uchigane Kaijin Custom! Here I come!"

The two lancers clashed with such fury that no watching dared interfere…But in hindsight the Prez should have realized that the other three unknown enemies might be as strong as this Sakura Kyoko…And that she might need more backup than she brought out.

As the lancers' duel heated up, the two other members of Knight Phantasms descended toward the out of control Kurokishi.

"So how are we going to retrieve Ichika-sama?" the blue haired girl inquired.

The silver haired leader's gaze remained fixed on her ragging lord.

"Reiha-sama already used the forced retrieval on the Kurokishi…All we need to do is to make a path for him to escape and bait him out of here…If all else fails, we can force him to come with us. But we will try to reason with him first. Should that fail…we'll use force to bring him in."

As they conversed the academy's IS's surrounded them.

"Who are you? What group are you from? Identify yourselves!" demanded the lead Revive pilot.

"My name is of no consequence to you…But you may call me Saikyo no Morite, and this is my IS, Gorin no Taijun's Missile Festival." Said the Saikyo no Morite as a screen appeared in her sight. It asked for her weapon selection and permission…And she clicked yes.

Behind Shion's IS a light flashed before disappearing and revealed two large rectangular containers. Their top sections opened up to display 20 holes on both compartments containing missiles armed and ready.

"Fire." She muttered as she unleashed hell, the missiles bursting out, leaving trails of smoke as they plunged up, than down toward the students below.

"DODGE THEM! EVASIVE MANUVERS!" one cried out, but the 40 missiles suddenly all broke apart, each one releasing ten micro-missiles.

"FUCK DODGING! SHOOT THEM DOWN!"

One Revive barrel-rolled to dodge an incoming missile, but she was hit by a beam attack from far beyond the arena that heavily damaged her side armor and smashed her back several meters, disoriented.

"Wha-"

It was enough time for a micro missile to plow into her and engulf her in a ball of fire.

"What was that?!"

"A sniper!"

Down below Chifuyu, armed with her borrowed Uchigane, lead the students in dealing with the missiles. She actually took her sister's beam rifle to shoot some of them down.

She held it in one hand with her sword in another, moving as she shot, her accurate fire blowing several missiles out of the sky. The former champ scowled at the onslaught.

'These kids aren't enough. These guys are no pushovers.'

From the corner of her eye, she saw the knight had been forced to take evasive action as well to avoid the missiles.

After several dozen very long seconds, the onslaught finally subsided, the missiles depleted.

Ryuuzetsu Shion turned to her subordinate.

"Miki Sayaka…Your job now is to stall the remaining students. All the remaining ones are either good enough to dodge my initial attack or wounded and tired."

"Hai."

The blue haired girl in her blue customized IS descended to the ground.

The remaining students got up slowly and glared at the blue head.

"Damn you…Who are you?"

"My name isn't important, but you may refer to me as Soha no Furite, the Waver of the Great Bellow. And now with my Uchigane Ho no Kinpai…" She drew a curved cutlass from her bus slots, "I'll fulfill my duty!" That said, Miki charged the horde of enemies with dashing swords in hand.

On the other side of the arena Shion approached the black knight who was on his knees.

"…My lord?"

**"****Guuhhhhh…."**

"It is I, my lord…Your servant Shion…we must return now. Your mother has ordered your return."

**"****GAhhh!...Shhhiii…ooooommmm….Heeerrrreee…..HHHHEEEERRREEEE!"**

"Yes, my lord…I know they are here, but this is not your mother's wish."

**"****HHHHEEEERRREEEE! HHHHEEEERRREEEE! HHHHEEEERRREEEE! HHHHEEEERRREEEE!"**

"No my lord…We must return now. Please…for me." the silver haired girl pleaded softly as she approached the dangerous paladin.

"Stop right there!"

Shion turned around in time to block a katana strike with her larger than normal spiked Revive shield blade. She spun around to knock the attacker away, but her opponent leaped up and pushed off her to get away from her spinning slash. The silver haired beauty narrowed her eyes.

"You are…Ormura Chifuyu…"

"You guys have quite the guts to attack this place. What is your objective? The school? The students? The VIPs? Or perhaps the IS cores are what you're after…Phantom Task."

"As expected of the world's finest. There's no need for you to know our goal, though."

"It matters not if we capture you. Your sniper friend is good, but I sent Maya after her and there's no way Maya will lose. Sarashiki is dealing with the redhead…and you have me…Face it this is over."

"Far too hasty, fallen Orimura heiress."

Chifuyu's eyes narrowed slightly. "What did you say?"

"You heard me. This fight as you call it is no fight…Our job…MY job is to retrieve the black knight."

"After the mess you made? Surely you weren't thinking of walking out of here?" Chifuyu stated as she pushed harder against the shield.

"Will you be surprised if we walk all over you? Without your personal IS, you're not that much of a threat…a threat true…But not that much."

Shion swept out with both hands and summoned two assault rifles. The top gun of the Knight Phantasm knelt down and fired at the former champ.

_Ratatatattatatatatatattatata tatatatattatatatatatattaa!_

"Tsh!" let out Chifuyu as she Uchigane's slid across the ground to avoid the bullets and returned fire with her sister's beam rifle.

'Show me Brunhilde…Show me why Ichika-sama is so hung up on you.' Shion thought as she switched one of her rifles for a rocket launcher and fired. The rocket flew the air straight toward Chifuyu.

"Hmmph!"

Chifuyu easily dodged the rocket, and was treated to the sight of Shion dismissing her empty rocket launcher and assault rifle and summoning two larger, bulkier guns.

"-And my GSDH003-Hydra Beam Gatling's." She finished as she opened fired with rapid beam and plasma bullets. The sound of the Gatling gun's barrels and loud, vibrant _sheens_ of the plasma rifles firing filled the air as the trail of deadly light burst from the Revive Gorin no Taijun Custom like fireworks.The trace of green beam bolts flared toward Chifuyu as she ducked and rolled out of the attacks way. She slid past and dodged shot after shot, and used her katana to block the ones she couldn't dodge."Perhaps I was too hasty when I picked this spare Uchigane. The Kuzezakura'd real helpful now." Chifuyu muttered as she charged forward.

* * *

From outside the arena, a certain blonde with her Lone Tear Custom IS arrived.

'They're scattered and in disarray…easy targets.' Tomoe Mami thought as she aimed her long range rifle.

Her targeting system locked onto an Uchigane moving around Miki Sayaka on the ground. She watched as the rookie used her blade to block another Uchigane's attack, not seeing the sneaky one.

"Typical rookie. I hate to agree with Sakura, but this girl isn't up to being a top knight." She muttered as she pulled her trigger and blasted the Uchigane. It was a headshot, and the sheer power and heat of the beam bullet knocked her out despite her Absolute Barrier and still having shield points.

"Next…"

Tomoe aimed once more… then quickly leaped back, bullets smacking into her rifle from the side.

"Nani?" Tomoe exclaimed as she looked to her right and saw a standard Revive unit piloted by a green haired spectacled woman…and an even bigger bust than hers.

"You…!" She tossed the damaged rifle aside before it could blow up, "Who are you supposed to be?" Off to the side, the rifle exploded at a safe distance.

"My name is Yamada Maya and I am a teacher in this academy! I will have you come with me young lady, because you're in big trouble!"

"Well, well, you're a sensei? IS Gakuen must be desperate to hire someone like you." Tomoe stated mockingly as she summoned a pair of rifles to her hands.

"My name is a secret, but you may address me as Kafuku no Tsukite(Piercer of Hidden Arms)…And this is my personal IS, 2nd Generation Lone Tear! Seiga no Yobite (Summoner of Starry River) Custom!" Tomoe declared as she opened fire at the glasses wearing teacher.

Maya quickly began to dodge expertly as she let herself shine. Despite her appearance and attitude she was not only a teacher, but also a partner to Orimura Chifuyu.

Maya held her Vent Assault Rifle as she dodged, occasionally firing back with deadly accuracy.

Tomoe ducked to avoid a sharp blast to her head and fired off a valley to force Maya from her position.

"My my, this teacher has a bite." Tomoe stated as she smirked and licked her lips in anticipation.

She opened fire as she ascended, but Maya summoned out the Gram and followed after her.

Tomoe smirked as she dodged the machine gun fire and decided to take the offensive by chasing Maya.

"Alright, let's see the quality of the IS Gakuen's teachers…first of all…reaction." Said Tomoe as her Hyper Sensor eyes on the Lone Tear's Head gear lowered itself to cover Mami's eyes for better sight.

Tomoe fired her guns in rapid succession. Maya found herself unable shake off the younger girl.

"A-Ano…If you don't stop, I'll be very angry!" she tried to reason, but her warning went unheard.

Maya sighed as she held a smoke bomb in her hands.

As Mami took aim again, Maya broke the pallet and engulfed herself in a thick cloud of smoke.

"That's a smoke screen…The Cloud of Tuesday?" muttered Mami as she narrowed her eyes.

"Clever…that smoke has anti-heat sensor properties and an electro barrier against Hyper Sensors…So I'm blind…But I can see that you haven't left the cloud yet."

Mami raised her rifles and turned horizontally with her long shield, revealing a compact beam gun hidden in the inner side of the shield. The Lone Tear Seiga no Yobite (Summoner of Starry River) Custom comes with a round armored skirt that protects the pilot's thighs and legs from the front and the side.

The skirt opened up and revealed that one part of it was actually a pair of mechanical arms with three fingers, thick enough to hold an assault rifle. On the other part of the skirt a small square compartment opened to reveal a mini-missile launcher.

"Then I have to smoke you out." Tomoe said, kind smile on her face. "Fire."

The sound of guns coming to lie, missiles being launched , and laser beams being fired sounded as Tomoe's smiling face lit up by the orange gun fire looked rather ominous and menacing.

The hail of attacks smashed into the cloud, turning it into a raging fire ball of death.

"Hmm…Nothing special." Tomoe murmured smugly before a green figure burst out of the smoke. It was the megane teacher with her Shoulder Shields missing.

"A-Ano Tomoe-san, gomennasai!" Maya cried out as she revealed a M79 Grenade Launcher. She quickly fired at Tomoe, but Tomoe snorted as she shot the grenade with one shot. That was a mistake.

_BANG!_

"Agghh!"

It was a flash bang that blinded Mami due to her hyper sensitive sensor and deafened her ears. In her moment of weakness Maya closed the distance between them.

"I'm sorry! But I need to arrest you for questioning!" she apologized as she revealed the most powerful close range 2nd gen weapon.

The Grey Scale, also known as Shield Pierce.

Tomoe was caught completely off guard as she was smashed by the Grey Scale. The pile bunker-type weapon, a pointed battering ram propelled by blank rounds stored in a revolver-type magazine for rapid firing mercilessly smashed into her chest armor, spreading a spider web series of cracks all over it.

"Again!" Maya cried, slamming the Shield Pierce into her once more.

"Aaaaghhhhh!" Tomoe shrieked as her chest area armor was blown apart, her Absolute Barrier flaring like mad.

The second shot was the finishing move as Tomoe was sent flying down out of the sky her IS badly damaged and her shield points strained…it seems it was too much for her to handle.

"Now it's done." Yamada said, relaxed a bit.

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

"Huh?" Yamada looked down and spotted circular metal object on her chest.

"This is…a bomb? But how did she…!? When I got close to her-!"

_BRROOOOOMMMM!_

Maya fell from the sky trailing smoke. Her shields were damaged, but she wasn't out of the fight yet.

"That was dangerous…These intruders are no push over for sure."

_Click!_

Maya turned and saw the blond haired teenager holding a gun at her below her. It was a MM1 Grenade Launcher. This launcher was smaller than the M79 and had rapid fire capabilities.

"I'm going to kill you…I'm going to rip you to pieces starting with your left boob!" she yelled out in raw anger as she pulled the trigger.

Yamada couldn't dodge in time as she was showered with building buster grenades. As Maya was sent flying backward in pain, Mami relentlessly leveled all 8 of her guns and opened fire at the dazed Maya.

"…Oh dear." Whispered Maya as she started rolling sideways frantically…and a second later the spot she was in a second ago was blasted apart by high powered weapons. This wasn't her day.

Down below Miki was fighting multiple enemies at once. She swung her cutlasses to block a swipe from an Uchigane with a spear and dodged a knife strike from a Revive.

The blue haired rookie slashed at her attackers and knocked them back.

"Damn! This girl…What is she?" questioned an Uchigane pilot on her knees.

"She's not fast, nor is she that strong…So why can't we beat her down? We have the number advantage for god's sake!" exclaimed another pilot holding a naginata .

This blue haired girl is easily holding them off.

The girls wanted to help their seniors, but those fights…were too high class.

"HAHAHAHAHA! You're not bad Sarashiki Tatenashi! You're worth killing!"

"Not bad yourself, but this Onee-chan has a reputation as the best to up hold!"

"Slow…That Unit is too weak to keep up with your reflexes Brunhilde. Without your Yukihira…without your Kurezakura this won't even be a fair fight."

"You talk too much you brat." Chifuyu stated as she sped through a deadly blade dance…which the other girl called slow.

This blue haired girl is at most as old as the students. She might even be younger than a first year!

SO HOW IS SHE BEATING THEM BACK!?

Miki blocked an overhead katana with her cutlass in one hand and a spear thrust from her side with her other blade.

Other Uchiganes came at her with swords and lances.

"Compared to my senpais bullying me…THIS IS NOTHING!" shouted the blue head as she knocked the spear she was blocking to the side and threw her free sword at the katana user she was holding back. She then summoned a round shield from her armory to block the rest as they attacked.

Her shield was silver white round shield that covered her center and her upper shoulder and lower knee. It shimmered like a watery mirror and was adorned with gold and blue symbols. It had a red jewel in the center over a large golden cross.

This was her 3rd generation weapon…Aegis, the Shield of the King of Gods.

Miki was by rank the 4th strongest of the Knight Phantasm, the knights and Royal Guard division of the Phantom Task under Orimura Ichika. Her IS, Uchigane Ho no Kinpai (Pendent of Dedication) Custom was a knight IS. Her armor was blue with green highlights. Her samurai shoulder armor and shields were replaced with a wide smooth silver shield with a golden cross in the middle. Her samurai thigh armor and front skirt were replaced with more feminine knight leg armor and side thrusters. On her back she wore a large sky blue cape made of dense material with anti-kinetic coating to block bullets, swords, missiles, and even beams.

The armor on her arms was very thin, as was the outer armor. It was the same for her legs, though she had two thrusters on her calf and heel for speed and balance.

Her IS's thruster system was nothing like a normal Uchigane's. She could fly and hover.

Klank! Bonk!

The sound of swords hitting the shield echoed as the younger blue head used it to push back the enemy and took advantage of the opening to slash at the large collection of IS's in front of her.

"Hah!" shouted Miki as she parried the incoming slash from the side and spun around the attacker to slam the butt of her sword into her side. She then slashed the attacker's back and kicked her away.

"I can do this. Ichika-sama said so…I'm talented…I'm worthy…" she muttered as she dashed in to smash her fist into the chest of a Revive before she could fire and jabbed her cutlass into the shoulder armor.

She then roundhouse kicked the Revive away and turned in time to sway past a thrust from an Uchigane and summoned a rapier to impale its chest…and broke her sword in her.

"Hahh…hahh…" she summoned a claymore, "Next!"

One might ask why someone like her was in the Knight Phantasm. She wasn't as beautiful or as strong as the other knights, yet out of all the operatives in Phantom Task, she alone was handpicked by Orimura Ichika and knighted by him.

_'__Why have you added me to the team...? I'm nothing like Ryuuzetsu-senpai or even Tomoe-senpai. I'ma rookie in every sense of the word like Sakura…san said, so why did you accept me to the higher rank?'_

_ '__Why not?' _was his answer.

_'__Huh?' _was her reply.

Miki Sayaka…That was the name of a girl who was, once upon a time…nothing.

Before she was selected as one of the royal knights, she was weak and shy. Miki Sayaka was actually a fake name, a code name given to her when she was adopted by the Phantom Task Recruitment Division when she was very young from an orphanage.

She had nothing and no one. And like many girls in Phantom Task after the IS was invented, she was trained to be one of their expendable operatives…She had nothing to live for anyway.

Despite everything, she wanted to change things…Phantom Task was evil…yet she was part of that evil. What she wanted the most was to change the organization from the inside.

In the real world, however, the weak have nothing and only the strong can do anything.

But she nurtured that dream. Like a plant surviving in a harsh desert, she held that dream deep within.

For some bizarre reason, he found her among all the faceless operatives and trainees and picked her out.

**(Flashback)**

It all happened so fast. Miki was around 14. She was among many trainees receiving lessons on how to kill people with or without an IS. She was in the sparring with her partner and losing badly.

"HAhh!"

"DORYAAA!"

Her sparring partner, if she could be called that, was the most talented and brutal member of the group.

So it was no surprise she sought to make her weaker partner suffer.

At the time she was piloting a regular Uchigane with a single katana. Her opponent, Tachibana Fu, was using the same unit, and was winning through sheer strength and talent.

"Why do ya bother Miki-chan~ you're soooo weak that it hardly matters." Tachibana taunted as she kicked Miki away.

Miki stumbled back, but raised her blade high to block an overhead slash.

"Damn it…" She was being pushed back and her IS's sword was damaged. It was clear that she wasn't strong enough. Suddenly she tripped and fell to the floor from a strong blow.

"THIS IS IT!" Tachibana cried out with a maniacal smile reaching her ears.

_WHOOSH!_

Sayaka closed her eyes, awaiting the pain.

_CLANK!_

…which never came?

She looked up and saw a teenage boy in an officer Phantom Task uniform adorned with silver buttons.

His hair was a messy black and his eyes a calm brownish red. His right hand was raised up, holding a sheathed katana that blocked Tachibana's blow by stopping her elbow.

"Yo…How's it going?" He inquired.

"I-I…Fine?"

"Who're you?! Who do ya think you…are?" Tachibana paled as she realized who was in front of her.

It was Orimura Ichika. The sole male heir of the Orimura clan, and son of Orimura Reiha! The teenager waved her off with a smile and observed the downed Sayaka with a raised eyebrow before smirking.

"You're different…Very different." He muttered as he turned to the stiff instructor standing at attention.

"Hey!" he called out to an instructor.

"Ichika-sama!?''

He walked up to her with a small smile on his face.

"This girl here…How good is she?" He asked the faceless instructor.

The instructor fumbled a salute.

"H-HAI! Miki Sayaka is a third class pilot with aptitude of Rank-C! Honestly she is a low-rank soldier sir!"

"A grunt? I see, I see…Okay! I've decided. Give her to me."

'Huh?' Was the collective thought of the day.

"I saw how she fought today, she sucked right? A real waste of time as a regular operative?"

"H-Hai."

"Then give her to me. I see something special about her and I like to collect special things."

He turned to Sayaka who was staring at him from the ground, eyes wide, mouth agape.

"I'm glad Shion told me to get out and see the crop this year. I found myself a real shy flower."

**(Scene Change) (A few days later in Ichika's office)**

Miki Sayaka, now wearing one of the Knight Phantasm, Royal Guard uniforms, stood at attention and bluntly addressed the teen before her, reading her files.

"Ichika-sama." "Hummm?" the boy replied absentmindedly" I'd like to ask…Why have you added me to the team?" He looked up, raising an eyebrow. "I'm nothing like Ryuuzetsu-senpai or even Tomoe-senpai. I'm a rookie in every sense of the word like Sakura -" She paused, struggling not to insult the other girl "-san said so why did you accept me to the higher rank?"

Ichika put the files down and smiled at her.

"Why not?" he inquired.

"Huh?" she replied, caught off guard.

"I found you interesting, I love collecting interesting things, and I keep them close to me because I found them unique."

"You found me…interesting?"

"Precisely. You Miki Sayaka are an odd woman in our happy little criminal organization."

"I beg your pardon, sir?"

"You don't like to harm people do you." It wasn't a question. He stretched his arms behind his back and looked her in the eyes.

"I watched your spar, I read your files, I watched the videos of your training, I even got briefed on your missions under me for last few days and your recent training scores. You, Miki Sayaka…suck at fighting."

Sayaka was speechless.

"You suck so badly because you hate harming others and you involuntarily hold back when you attack. You're terrible at kendo and you're the worst two handed sword user I've seen in a while." Ichika ticked off with a broad smile.

"However when you defend yourself or defend your team, you are superb. In other words you prefer protecting over attacking. As a member of an evil organization, you're a terrible minion, but for me…you're an ideal guard."

"I-I what?" she stammered.

"As you know, the Knight Phantasm was originally made as my personal retinue of servants, because of my mother. Instead I made them a respected combat force rivaling my mother's Four Season Commanders and her elites in terms of abilities. But the fact remains that the Knight Phantasm is but a royal guard. My protectors." Ichika pointed at her and smirked.

"I've already collected many unique and special people. I already have a wild spear, a snappy arrow, and even a fabulous war fan…So I decided to get myself a shield."

He stood up and pat on her shoulder.

"I have no need for a sword Miki Sayaka…So become my shield. One that defends me always."

**(End FLASH BACK)**

"HAAAHHH!" Sayaka cried out as she slashed down another pilot and raised her shield.

"WHO'S NEXT!"

The sound of the numerous fights in motion echoed underground.

Directly below the arena was a hanger, which was in fact a standby room for pilots or competitors to refit or repair there IS's. Currently it was occupied by the four 1st years that had originally been fighting in the tournament. There were also several 3rd years that were actually the nurse's assistants bandaging them.

When the knight took them down the third years brought them down quickly for treatment, but the moment more invaders arrived, the room was sealed for protection.

The room was guarded from the inside by two 3rd years and a math teacher with a Revive and sufficient skill to take down a squad of the world's best on her own.

Oh, Rin and Cecilia happened to be there too.

When they saw how their friends were taken down so easily they rushed to them despite not having there is's at the time. They were them transferred and sealed into the underground hanger.

"Oi! Madoka, don't be reckless!"

"That's right! You need some rest!" Cecilia exclaimed, waving her hands.

Orimura Madoka did not heed her friends as she slowly and shakily got to her feet.

"Hahhh…hahh…" her body ached tremendously, but she resisted the urge to lie back down.

"Baka! What are you doing, lay down now!" Houki ordered, forcing the younger girl back into bed.

"But, Chifuyu-nee is-"

"Orimura-sensei will be fine. She's the number one, remember?" Rin interrupted as she placed a wet towel on Charlotte's head. The poor girl was still knocked out from the knight's electric attack.

"I know…But…" 'What is this feeling…This feeling of dread…something is going to happen and she needed to see it.

Chifuyu slid across the ground, her movements resembling those of a dancer as she dodged the incoming storm.

She pushed her Uchigane to its limit as she performed extremely complicated movements to avoid the lasers and beam bullets from the silver haired invader. She slid down to avoid a green beam to her head and spun around to avoid the follow up rapid fire beam Gatling guns. She quickly activated her front thruster to fly back to avoid the intercepting shot on her flight path.

Chifuyu came to a halt and calmly watched for the next shots, ducking low to the ground on one knee than spinning, flipping, and sidestepping them. The Ice Queen of the IS world turned her face away from the next shot and didn't even bother looking at the missed beam as she erupted into motion, rapidly jerking from one point to another, either deflecting rapid fire bolts with her weapon or moving to let them pass by harmlessly. Her IS was, at this point, more in danger of taking damage through strain from her high speed movements than from her enemy. But it held itself together.

'This girl is rather good. Better than the average Representative, but lower than the typical 4 finalists in the world tournaments.' Chifuyu thought as she ducked once more to avoid the trace of green beam energy.

She'd been dealing with this silver haired girl for a while and she was honestly very impressed. Granted she herself was using a mass production model rather than her personal unit, but she wasn't the champ for nothing.

If it were anyone else, she'd have broken through their guards and sliced them up, but this girl was using her insane fire power effectively, and was no slouch on her feet as, constantly moving to lock on to her.

The heavier Revive Custom frame was slower, but at this distance her opponent kept herself away from her blade and the sheer firepower of the IS made it hard for her to advance. However, the distance also made it easier for Chifuyu to dodge.

The Uchigane was nothing but a standard 2nd generation unit, but it was based on her Kuzezakura and her combat data during its development stage.

A samurai with a lone sword…that's her style.

Chifuyu gathered all the spare energy she could and charged it to her booster. She than lowered herself to avoid a trail of green beam attacks as the Hydra Gataling gun fired at her.

"Stay still you coward! If it wasn't for your weakness, for your worthlessness, He wouldn't have to suffer like he does!" shouted Shion as she jumped back and opened up a hidden compartment in her leg to fire off 8 micro anti-surface missiles.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm ending this." Chifuyu stated as she suddenly vanished from Shion's sight, completely avoiding the micro missiles.

"What!?" Shion exclaimed as she lost track of the former champ.

_Whoosh! CLANK!_

"N-Nani!?"

Shion suddenly found herself unarmed as the daughter of her boss appeared next to her with her sword already swung through her shoulder mounted Gatling guns, and her two plasma rifles missing their barrels. Shion quickly detached the Hydra Gatling Gun Pack from her back and tossed the ruined rifles aside. Just in time too as they both blew up.

"An Ignition Boost?"

Chifuyu used Ignition Boost to zip over to Shion's right and swung her sword within the time span of the Ignition Boost to slice off four of her heavy guns in less than a second.

"I didn't lose sight of you the entire fight. There's no way you could have escaped my senses!"

"What foolishness are you spouting?"

Chifuyu lazily swung her sword.

"The way you're talking is strange. The things you're saying aren't something someone at your level should be concerned about…It is obvious that what happened just now was me deciding that this farce is getting too old."

"N-Nani…"

"To be able to sense me, or even keep me in your sight during the duration of a fight with me would mean that you're at least capable of crossing swords with me when I consider you my enemy…But you're not even worth that."

_Whoosh!_ She swung at the air for practice.

"Don't get ahead of yourself little girl. A boost move that like is nothing to me. To be able to cut your weapons even less so. It wasn't worth getting worked up for, so I decided to end it in the blink of an eye, with Senka, the Flash Blossom."

"Senka?"

"It's a simple thing really. I simply turn in the middle of the Ignition Boost to avoid the straight-line and move in an angle I want…and cut down my enemies in a single blow."

"Impossible! No human body can move so quickly within the sheer pressure of the Ignition Boost, it's simply imposs-

"And yet it is standing in front of you."

"Curse you…Orimura Chifuyu…of the Orimura clan. Just like her…and him." She muttered the last bit.

She should have known. Despite what Reiha believed, her oldest daughter was still part of her bloodline and very powerful. After seeing Ichika doing the impossible, she should have realized the other two Orimuras could do the unthinkable as well.

A blunder on her part.

"Tsh! As if I'll accept that! If I can't even beat you how can I protect him!"

Shion burst into the sky to gain some distance, but Chifuyu was faster as she followed after her in a flash and brought her sword up. Chifuyu wordlessly sliced down at her opponent's shoulder. Shion raised her large spiked shield to block and summoned a Gram machine gun and aimed at the Uchigane. But before she could even pull the trigger it was sliced off.

"Fool me once shame on me, fool me twice shame on you." Chifuyu declared as she thrust her sword forward and caught Shion right on the chest. Sparks flew as Shion narrowed her eyes. Her shield points had taken a good hit from the combo attack and the final thrust left her with half her shield points.

Shion stepped back from the impact, but Chifuyu calmed followed after her and back kicked her chest, sending her grinding against the floor.

Shion looked up and saw Chifuyu calmly turning to face her with her katana in her hand…not even in a guard position!

"Don't get cocky you outdated woman!" The silver haired girl yelled out as she materialized a new weapon. This time it was a cannon longer than her; thick with a large barrel at the front. It drew on so much power that it came with a compact battery pack and particle device, which was strapped to her back right on her core.

The crystal eyed girl flew high into the sky to get far above Chifuyu. In the air Shion thought over whether or not to use her new weapon. One the Phantom Task scientists and researchers labeled as an 'Anti-Ship Cannon.'

This weapon wasn't anti-armor or anti-unit. Nor was it for a large number of enemies like an anti-army.

This is an anti-ship…Or an anti-fortress weapon. A tool built to tear through buildings and battleships. In another words, the most dangerous kind of IS weapon out there. Not even the famous Yukihira of the Shodaime Brunhilde was this class. Even her famed blade was an Anti-Unit Sword.

'Let's see how good you are against this…My most powerful armament, that can wipe out any IS with full shields or not!' she thought as she raised the cannon with both arms and held it in a firing position.  
"Waver of the Great Bellow! PROTECT ICHIKA-SAMA!" Shion cried out, pulling the trigger. The result was a thick, large, reddish and white beam particle blast bursting out of the barrel. The pillar of red was powerful enough to blast through the ground below, and as the gunner moved her cannon upward the trail of the particle beam followed across the ground.

The trail of red beams burned through the solid ground and the red hot molten marks glowed for a bit until the particles blew up…burning everything around it.

The hellfire from above actually got in the way of Miki's battle and the outer blast grazed several IS Gakuen units.

"Huh?" let out Miki as her eyes widened and she immediately abandoned her fight to dodge the blast.

"That was Ryuuzetsu-senpai's…Oh my god…" Sayaka murmured as she initiated Ignition Boost to burst toward the black knight who was staring at the fight above, tackling him to the ground.

"Please forgive me young master! Aegis! Maximum Defense wall!"

[Roger.]

The large white decorative shield glowed as a sky blue shield of light materialized in front of it, protecting them from the fury of the Saikyo no Morite.

On the other side Tomoe Mami cupped her hands to her mouth in surprise. She watched as the trail of red and white beam particles cooked up the floor and made the very ground burst into flame.

"Oh dear…that's…" she muttered, lowering all her guns.

Yamada Maya could only stare at the red beam particles scorching the arena floor.

"This is…" muttered Tatenashi as she looked down at the pillar of energy burning the ground below. She was knocked out of her shock as Sakura came in from the side to try and rip her head off with her segmented spear. The strongest student raised her lance to block and turned it forward to fire back.

The red headed girl dodged the attacks and returned fire with her own arm mounted beam guns.

_Pisshu! Pisshu! Pisshu! Pisshu!_

After firing a few shots Sakura lowered her left hand and stared at the ground.

"Damn it! That's Saikyo no Morite's CPA1000A1 Orthros beam cannon! Why'd you pull that one out?" Kyoko questioned irritably as she held her spear under her arm and against her back.

"…Ichika-sama…Baka rookie…"

Miki peered over her shield to see the results of the beam cannon.

A real disaster greeted her.

When her commander told her to protect Ichika-sama, she abandoned her fight and raised her Aegis, releasing its maximum anti-beam shielding to protect both of them from the hue of destruction. As expected of her position as the Shield, they were fine.

The Aegis was a perfect defense type IS weapon, because one of its abilities was to convert shield points into a particle shield. In other words the more shield points she tributes to the shield, the more the shield's natural protection range and power grows. In theory, its protection capability could be triple that of the Absolute Barrier if at least 200 shield points were added.

This time around she only sacrificed 100 points and that was enough.

"I-Ichika-sama…are you okay?" she questioned hesitantly as she turned around.

**"…Ghhhhaaahhh…"** The knight groaned out as it got to its feet.

The Kurokishi's abnormally high power core system came in handy as his shield was fine. The knight looked around ignoring the blue haired girl. While it seemed strange, it was actually a sign of great control on Ichika's part, considering how violent a berserk Orimura is.

The mad knight stepped forward to continue, but when he did he felt a tremor under his foot.

**"GGGHh?"**

_CRACK CRACK! BAZZZIG!_

The ground underneath him cracked all of a sudden, becoming unstable. The energy beam had done heavy damage to the underground hangar ceiling. Enough to damage the supports below.

The knight growled as the ground gave out on him and tilted downward. He got on all fours as he jumped off it and saw that the platform underneath was a metal framework.

**"Guuuhhhh…"**

"Ichika-sama! Are you okay?! Miki respond!" a voice emerged from the friendly com link. The knight ignored the noise, showing how he could separate enemies from allies.

"This is Miki Sayaka, Ichika-sama is fine." Reported the Waver of the Great Bellow as she got up as well.

"I hear you loud and clear. The others are still holding back the experienced pilots. It seems my last attack got all of the grunts too."

"That's wonderful news. With only two working units they can't stop us from escaping."

"Agreed. I'll be there shortly. My shield's suffering from reckless cannon usage. I'm recalibrating for longer activation time over the weapons system." Shion said as she cut off the communication.

Soon enough damaged and dirtied frame of Ryuuzetsu Shion and her customized Revive landed ear him.

"I'm glad you're okay, my lord. But we need to go now."

The knight's red eyes glowed inside its visor as he jumped away from his companion.

"My lord-"

**"GUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"** he roared furiously. He stomped the ground hard cratering it underneath him. The knight refused to leave. He had a goal…and he would remain until he achieved it.

As the knight's posture lowered a voice sounded across the dust arena. A cold, unfocused one.

"Who…did you just say?"

The International criminals turned and saw the icy gaze of Orimura Chifuyu who was standing above the damaged and tilted land with a crazed look in her eyes.

"You said something. I thought I heard it wrong, but you said a name. I know that name, but why do you know it…If you know him, then do yourself a favor by telling me, because none of you are getting out of this arena, until I'm satisfied." Chifuyu declared coldly, her crazed look replaced by cold determination.

The Uchigane groaned and let off multiple sparks. Its framework was completely. It was on its last leg.

Chifuyu stepped forward and the female criminals stepped back, while the knight didn't even flinch

"You know who he is…right? My brother…You said his name…"

Shion tensed up as she traced her hand against the Orthros Beam Cannon in her hands, but there was no guarantee she could hit the oldest of the Orimura siblings in such distance. Not only that the cannon draws on too much power…the battery on her back can't take rapid fire action….not with this cannon.

'Ichika-sama truly picked a wrong day to be stubborn.' thought Shion as she dismissed her cannon and pulled out a M68 "Cattus" 500mm recoilless rifle and pointed at the approaching Chifuyu and fired.

Chifuyu walked toward the three Knight Phantasms with no hesitation. All forms of wariness were thrown out the window the moment she heard that name.

Ichika.

Her long lost brother cruelly taken from her. From what she'd gathered that silver haired brat knew the weight the name Orimura held in the underworld. So that can mean only one thing…She was serving under that _woman_…her mother.

If Orimura Reiha was the one imprisoning Ichika…who knows what's been done to him.

Chifuyu knew the bloody history of her family. She knew that for great power her family suffered from madness and perhaps a sort of genius that the common man saw as madness.

Never to be understood…never to be accepted…Only to be respected and feared.

So it's not surprising when an Orimura seeks comfort and love from another Orimura.

Her clan had been indulging in the taboo of incest for many generations…It kept the family 'pure' in order to keep all the power their bloodline held.

When Ichika was born there was a stir among the clan unlike any other since 30 or more years ago…Since her mother was born.

Chifuyu was only 9 years old at the time, but she was a trained Orimura. A prodigy by the clan's standards, but weak in her mother's eyes. However, she held a good position among the family council, and had a seat in the meeting…The meeting regarding an heir to the clan.

At the time she cared for no one. Her mother? The source of her unease. Her father? Loyal to her mother and there had been rumors that he was unwell.

She wasn't expecting much from the recently born twins.

"Reiha-sama granted our clan with a healthy twin…The older one is the son of the clan…the second is a daughter." Said one of the councilmen.

"Now we have a problem. The clan's tradition dictates that twins are a bad omen. The weaker one is to be case aside or killed. Fortunately, Reiha-sama approves of the male child, so it's likely the girl will be given away to the branch clan."

"Is the boy of of use besides being a male?" asked another councilman.

"I advise you watch what you say. That child is only son of the main family and Kirie-sama and Reiha-sama's final offspring. Most likely Kirie-sama will not live long enough to help Reiha-sama to produce another child and heaven forbid Reiha-sama even considers taking another man. The last fool who that after Kirie-sama's declining health came up is still hung up outside the clan compound…alive by a single thread." muttered the first councilmen shivering slightly.

There are more painful ways to die…And there are some things even worse than death.

"What are their names?" asked Chifuyu cutting into the conversation.

"Kirie-sama and Reiha-sama named them…Ichika for the young master and Madoka for the second daughter, Chifuyu-sama."

Little Chifuyu who was more deadly than cute merely nodded and left the chamber to see her 'beloved' mother…to at least see the miserable brats who would soon gun for her life and position.

The tale from there on is a blur. But the moment she saw the two her cold heart melted slightly…Hell even her mother smiled, not cruelly, but kindly.

They were so tiny, so small, and so vulnerable.

Within the bundle of their clothes the twins were sleeping soundly, but Ichika…Her baby brother shifted as she approached. Despite being born for less than a few hours the child was moving around gently. Not struggling against his mother nor was he crying loudly, but he was moving…Restless yet calm.

The baby's eyes were still half closed, but it raised its weak hand at her.

"Gaggh." He squeaked out slightly….Reaching for her…Seeking his sister.

It was a random gesture, perhaps a mere coincidence…however…

She couldn't bear the thought of her brother whose existence was so pure to turn against her for the clan's tradition to climb over another for power.

She didn't want him to be raised as a proper Orimura.

Long story short, she made a crazy decision that day…and months later when her mother was recovered enough to attend to her duties, the babies didn't need constant tending to…around 4 month after they were born, she made her move.

At the time she intended to take only him…But for some accursed reason the boy cried loud enough to wake the dead when he was separated from his sister…So she took the other brat too.

The years after they escaped her family were also a blur, but she admitted it was a pleasant blur. She came to care for them both, even if Madoka was annoying and cried loudly over everything. For a time, she was happy.

But then he was stolen from her…

It was so cruel. She was careless… foolish…She should have expected it. She should not have been tempted by the smell of battle…It was her fault she was attracted by the thrill of battle the IS brought her, and that she was addicted to the idea of dominating another in mortal combat.

It was her fault… …Not only was Ichika gone, but it left a deep scar on her little sister…Madoka wasn't be an ideal little sister, but she was still family…the family she worked so hard to protect and nurture…

Find him! Fin**d** **him! Find him!**

Oh, she searched for him. Hell, she even asked the German military for help in exchange for training their brats.

But nothing came up. Nothing solid, nothing reliable. But now, here it is. The first clue now before her.

After 6 years…She had a lead.

So she will walk the path of the Asura once more…for his sake.

"Hahhh!" Chifuyu roared as she dodged a shot from the customized Revive before charging at it. Her movements were as graceful as ever, but now there was a hint of desperation and madness.

_"Cough! Cough! Cough!_ Is everyone alright?"

"I…I'm fine. Are you okay Houki?"

"I'm fine too…" the samurai girl replied as she stepped out of the cloud of dust.

In front of the youngest Shinonono was Madoka who used her body to protect the unconscious Charlotte and by extension Laura.

"Well, they're sleeping like rocks."

"Thank god."

"No, thank us!"

Houki and Madoka turned around to see Rin and Cecilia with their arms extended out in front of them. In front of them were two blue hue colored walls…the Absolute Barrier.

"You were lucky Cecilia and me were here. Even if our ISs are damaged to the point that we can't use them in combat, our Absolute Barrier systems are fine."

"I don't know. What happened to the 3rd years and the teacher who was guarding the hanger? Also what hit us? What on earth can cut into this shelter?"

Madoka stood up in the mess that was once a hanger area for IS launching and maintenance.

One moment she was laying down to recover from her fight/beatdown, the next thing she knew the very hanger was shaking. Then at the far end of the hanger a pillar of red light ripped through the ceiling and then there was a pause…and the whole place turned into an inferno.

"…I'm really glad you were here Rin-Nee."

"You betcha." Rin droned as she rolled her shoulder in discomfort.

"We need to get out of here. At this rate the ceiling will collapse and the whole place will fall on us."

"But how? The door's jammed and outside…" Cecilia trailed off; everyone heard the sounds of battle.

"…We have no choice. We've got to get to the surface. At least out there we can find a safe spot." Madoka reasoned. The group climbed out of the shelter through the large blast hole in the crumbling ceiling. They were led by Rin in the front with her Shenlong's arm materialized with one of her Great Dao in hand. Behind her was Houki, carrying the unconscious Charlotte and behind her was Madoka, carrying the smallest of the group, Laura. Cecilia was the last one out as she was the sniper and best suited to guard the rear.

They managed to climb out, crawling to their knees as they tried not to strain themselves and hurt the unconscious ones.

"Hahh, hahh…This would be so much easier if I wasn't bruised all over and felt like encased me in lead." Madoka muttered as she slowly lowered Laura to the ground.

"What's happening now?" asked Houki as Cecilia looked up.

The area around them was destroyed and filled with dust from the various explosions, but she peered through the dust clouds to see four figures fighting in the air.

"Ah?! It's Yamada-sensei!"

"Sensei? She's fighting too?"

"It's not surprising. I mean even Chifuyu-nee is out there fighting."

"Speaking of Chifuyu-san, where is she?" asked Rin as she looked around.

Before she and Cecilia came to see their friends in the underground hanger, they heard how Orimura-sensei took a school's Uchigane to put an end to the battle.

However, they didn't stick around to see it, because they were too worried about their friends.

"I don't know. There's too much noise to pinpoint her locat-"

_Booom!_

With a loud thunderclap of destruction a single figure slammed into the ground near them.

The dust covered the vision, but the steady growl made the person's identity clear.

"THE KNIGHT!" exclaimed Madoka, tensing.

As she said, the figure walking out of the smoke was none other than the knight that had slaughtered them.

"This isn't good." Houki muttered as the knight turned to the noises on his from the right.

The knight was tired…Very tired…

He had no stability within his mind. He was a bundle of wild raging instincts and faint whisper that holds no restrain unless it is done by cracks of whips or sturdy chains. However he was still part of the world of the living. Despite his clan's freakish physical power and mental instability he was still a human being.

When his flesh is cut, he bleeds the red water of life.

When his flesh touches the flame, it burns.

When he is victorious he stands tall and proud.

Should he be poisoned, he dies.

Should he be wronged, he shall avenge.

Should he be sad, he shall shed tears.

He was a human, and his flesh has reached its limit. Even if his spirit is willing his body can't keep it up.

But he must continue…He still needed to find them both. He will take her and find the other one.

"THE KNIGHT!"

**It's her! It's her! It's her! It's her! It's her! It's her! It's her! It's her! It's her! It's her! It's her! It's HER!**

No mistake! She is the other half he seeks! The one that got away…the one he had to let go many, many moons ago! No mistake! No hesitation! No failure!

Too long had he been denied what he wanted! He knew not why. He only sought them because he must! His instincts were screaming at him! The Voice was urging him to hurry! Take them both! ALL HIS!

**"HUAAAHHH! MMMMMMIIIINNNNNNNEEEEE(Mine)!"** the knight roared, bursting with energy as he turned toward the helpless girls.

Rin took a stance as she was the only one that could still fight.

The Chinese girl swung her Souten Gagetsu at the incoming knight without any hesitation, but she was knocked aside easily. Cecilia retaliated with her IS rifle held by her IS armor covering her arms only, but the knight kicked up the fallen Souten Gagetsu from the ground and kicked it at the British girl. Cecilia let out a yell as her weapon was effectively destroyed by the large Dao.

"Everyone ru-!" Cecilia was cut off as the knight knocked her aside with a spinning round-house kick. The two representatives were overwhelmed, but their IS' Absolute Barriers drew them away from the jaws of death.

Now only Houki and Madoka remained…and they each held an unconscious body.

"Madoka! Run!" yelled Houki as she turned to flee. With no weapons, let alone IS and while carrying unconscious people. Madoka fled from the knight like a woman possessed. Much like Houki, she knows when she is out gunned, matched, and out spec by a superior opponent.

**SSSTTTOOOPPPP!HHHHHOUKI…MMMMAAAA…DDDDOOOO…KKKKAAAAAA…"** the knight growled out as he chased the two girls, reaching his clawed hand toward them.

_Whooosh!_ His shadow cast across them, covering them. His right armored fingers reached out…So close…The black knight's red visor glowed even brighter in anticipation…Nearly reaching the silver head of the unconscious Laura Bodewig…Only to be kicked away by an angry Chifuyu.

"Don't you touch my little sister you bastard! I'm not done with you!" yelled Chifuyu as she stabbed her sword down on her downed opponent, causing a massive amount of sparks to fly at the force of her strike. The stab left a dark mark on the pitch black armor.

He kicked off the ground and rolled in midair to launch his limbs at those around him. It saved him, knocking Chifuyu away with a rolling backhand to her chest and a flipping wild kick to her shoulder.

"Tsh…Such a ridiculous method…" Chifuyu groaned out as she regained her stance and in a flash blast forward for a horizontal slash to the stomach.

**"GGGAAAAHHHHH!CCCCC**C**CHHHH**H**HHIIII**I**IFFF**F**FFU**U**UUUUYY**Y**YYYY**U**UUU(Chifuyu!)!" **the knight roared as he pulled his black gauntlet fist. His hips turned and his legs twisted to build up a massive amount of tension. There is no mistaking it. A stance with no posture for evasive maneuver or a kick of any kind. A classic Karate punch? No…this was…a **Falcon Punch**!

**"CCCCCHHHHIIIIFFFFFUUUYYYYYYY UUUUUUUU!"**

"Hanekiri(Feather Cutting)!"

The knight slammed his fist against the katana in the Uchigane's hand. The force of the blows colliding caused a shockwave to burst between them, shattering the earth around them, hurling dust around and send wind spiraling around them. For some god forsaken reason the Knight was slowly overpowered by the former champion and was pushed back a foot or two. The knight stubbornly held on, but his arms started to bend due to the overwhelming force of Chifuyu's Hanekiri.

As mentioned before the human body has limits, limits so high that not even special genetic preservation through many generation can surpass it…at least not for long.

Ichika had been fighting constantly for some time against overwhelming numbers. He'd spent far more energy than any other combatant and Chifuyu was mostly fresh; in addition she was too experienced to fall under his pace and lose composure, and her determination was higher than heaven itself.

The knight tried to cover the distance of their skill by stepping into her slashes to dish out some hits, but he was swarmed by the flashing sword strikes that rammed into him.

Despite his insanity, the knight realized the gap in their power…so he dealt with it by calling upon even more. He thrust his hands at his sister, folded together for maximum penetration to break her guard.

"DID YOU NOT HEAR ME?! WHERE IS MY BROTHER!" roared Chifuyu as she ducked underneath the thrust and spun at a low angle to slash at the knight's shoulder, sliding past him she slashed at his back.

**"GAAAAHHHHHHHHH! GGGAAHHHHHHAA!"**

The knight let out a roar of pain at his latest injuries.

"HOW DARE YOU!" roared Shion as she popped out from the side with her shield held forward in a shoulder bash.

"RAAAAAHHH!" Sayaka bellowed as she joined her with two Chinese straight Jian in hands.

But they were facing a pissed off Chifuyu and there stands no woman that can match her.

"YOU GUYS ARE PESTS! I ONLY NEED ONE FOR THE INTERROGATION!"

Chifuyu bashed them aside, much like how her mother backhanded her underlings.

As she dealt with them, their ward jumped at her from behind, his hands stretched out to grab her.

"Hah!" She cried, maneuvering to block him before turning him over her shoulder and casting him away.

The knight slammed into the ground, but flipped back onto his feet in the middle of his slide.

He looked up to see Madoka and Houki behind Chifuyu.

"Chi-Nee!"

"Run Madoka! Get to the stadium wall! Get the 3rd years from the other side to open it up for you!"

"But Rin and Cecilia are still down there!"

"I'll get them! But I can't allow you to stay here any longer! You have to live, and you now have another life in your hands! Do you want themto die?!" Chifuyu demanded as she watched the knight tense, preparing to charge at her again.

"But-"

"NO! YOUR LIFE IS SOMETHING ICHIKA TREASURED OVER HIS OWN! REALIZE HOW PRECIOUS IT IS!"

At that moment recognition struck the knight…Despite the madness flowing through him, at that moment his sight was clearer than ever. Both flowers he desires…Are before him…There is no motivation greater than that.

**"ALLL MINEEEEEEEE!"** the knight roared, charging on all fours leaving a trail of black misty particles.

Chifuyu silently stared at her approaching enemy.

"Poor foolish beast. I don't need you to be intact…Just enough to talk…"muttered Chifuyu as her face was shadowed by her hair. She turned her back on the incoming paladin and slowly raised her blade from her side into a stance.

"So…A few pieces missing-"

Her eyes widened somewhat maniacally…the same madness plaguing her mother.

"-Is no consequence."

The next swing of her blade was nothing she used before. The slash was like a slow moving art…there was no word for it; one could only call it a god slaying strike.

A strike so fast that it was like a beam of moonlight slicing through the sky. A cloud splitting slash. A strike that struck more than once.

The first was from above at a right diagonal angle. _WHooosh!_ Time slowed down as the knight just barely ducked under it. The second strike was a continuation of the first as Chifuyu shifted her grip slightly to slash back the way she came…in a single moment. _WHOOOSH!_ The paladin slid back from his previous position, nearly falling on his back in the process.

The knight flipped onto his hands and again to avoid the following slash, landing on the ground crouching low. His fortune was at its best as he evaded a 'Two slashes in a single step' strike.

Now driven by the steady chant of a soothing voice, the beast prepared to leap at the Uchigane once again, but stopped upon noticing the activity going on behind his target.

It was Shion and Sayaka. They'd recovered and now jumped into the fray attempting to strike Chifuyu down from behind. The two bodyguards completely ignored the students standing far behind Chifuyu' and focused on the older woman.

Sayaka reached out to her side and summoned out her weapon. She held a large claymore with grass green lines on the edge. It looked nothing like an authentic claymore, it seemed more mechanical.

As for Shion-She stood back straight and wordlessly her shield turned horizontal and lowered itself down to her front. A small compartment opened on next to the spike. A handle came out which Shion grabbed.

With a mighty tug she pulled it out, revealing it to be a contraption of some kind. The contraption suddenly extended to a length of 2 meters while the top of the contraption folded open and ignited a shimmering blade of pink energy. It was a long beam halberd ax. (Imagine like how Slash Zaku pulls out its ax)

The two knights jumped up to attack Chifuyu from her blind spot. Chifuyu didn't have the time to realize her situation.

At that moment a part of the knight, one that had been hiding the whole time, stirred and took the reins. He pounced.

WHERE IS HE! TELL ME!" Chifuyu screamed as she continued her charge.

"NEE-CHAN! WATCH OUT!" Madoka yelled, watching helplessly as the two enemies got to her sister's blindside.

_"NEE-CHAN! WATCH OUT!"_

"Huh-What?"

Only then did Chifuyu realize the danger she was in. A knight in the front and an unknown danger behind.

Her hand felt cold…The IS katana felt heavy.

'Is this it…Will I fail again?'

Chifuyu's cold eyes glowed with determination.

"TTAAAAAHHHHHH! DORYYYAAAAA!" she cried out as she held the sword above her head. Her posture was classic…it was the embodiment of kendo, the way of the sword.

"Tsuki no Hikari…Kumo Kiri no Tsurugi(Shine of the moon…Cloud Cutting sword.)!" she cried out as she slashed down at the roaring knight.

_WHOOSH! CLANKKKKKKK! BAJJJIIIKKK-CLANK!_

Chifuyu's katana struck down…hit solid metal and cut through it.

"MY LORD?!"

Chifuyu was confused, since she was fully expecting to be struck down as well from behind. Curious, Chifuyu slowly and cautiously looked up and saw something incredible…The knight…was…he was…

Holding back a beam ax and a claymore with his armored hands…

He was raising his hands high to block them from hitting Chifuyu! The knight's armored appendages were letting off sparks and clipped off pieces as the blades dug into his armor.

"W-What? Why?" let out Chifuyu before she realized her position and immediately dashed side way, away from the two bodyguards and the knight. She raised her beaten up katana, but the blade let out a cracking noise and the top portion of it broke off.

The knight said nothing, but his helmet sparked up…and cracks appeared on the side. Across the knight's face, a slash mark could be seen. The final strike of Chifuyu slashed down from the cheek of his face all the way down his shoulder and chest to his leg. The scar was imprinted on his IS, like a mark of honor.

"**PPRRROOOO…TTTEECCTTT!"** the paladin groaned out as suddenly the mist that shrouded him in darkness vanished. The very air around him swirled and collected into his armor that revealed itself with no veil to hide behind.

Every detail of the armor was intimidating and awe inspiring…its design was that of a medieval knight yet bore differences from the ancient heavy armor that promoted protection over speed.

The curve in it, the sharp edges on his shoulders, the pitch black surface, and even the crimson lines that adorned his visor with a cross mark on its side. Every bit of the armor was artistic yet practical…A true masterpiece of art and weaponry. The long, purple decorative cloth on his helmet blew in the air.

**"HHUURRRTTT HERRRR….YOUUUU TRIEDDDDD…YOU TRIED!"** The knight hissed accusingly.

"M-My lord, we were only…"

Before Shion could plead her case the dark mist of the knight returned once more, but this time around around his right hand in a small vortex of darkness. Shion and Sayaka paled in realization.

"My lord, wait!"

"Ich-!"

They were cut short as the knight summoned a dark purple ceremonial broad sword with an unexpectedly mythical design.

It was as beautiful as it was ominous. The blue and purple shade of its edge was inhuman and its dark hue reaching from the tip to the bottom of the hilt was like it was trying to devour all the light around it.

The knight struck down one of his Royal Guard and the captain of said guard with two flawless slashes.

"Kyyaahhh!/Agghhh!"

Both Knight Phantasm warriors let out pained screams as they were singlehandedly cut down. Their Absolute Barriers flared, the only thing preventing their real bodies from being cut down as well. Both there IS's let off sparks, their chest areas cut deeply.

"M-My lord…forgive me…"

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry…Ichika-sama."

Sayaka and Shion lay on the ground, helpless and horrified…realizing they were brought down…because they targeted the wrong person.

The knight was about to raise his sword once more for another strike, but his wound from Chifuyu's final strike decided to act up by releasing a fountain of sparks at that moment.

**"****Ghhh…."**

The knight let go of his blade and it vanished into dark vapor.

**"****Gaaahhhh….Haaahhhhhhh…."**

Sparks flew out of his body as he slowly fell to his knees. He clenched at his wound in a sort of wonder…As if he had never been that hurt before. He slowly looked up and stared into the shaking eyes of Madoka and the confused ones of Chifuyu. For some reason, for the first time in years, his head felt clear.

**"****GAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"** The knight roared out as he clinched his neck and pulled. His clawed fingers gripped into the cut that Chifuyu made when she completely cut across his chest, head, and leg. There was a faint cut into his neck area and the Knight…No! Orimura Ichika grabbed on to it and tore it out of his body.

Once it was roughly removed the IS let off a shower of sparks at the self-inflicted wound. His body ruined by battle and weakened by his own physical and mental conflict, the heir of Orimura slowly looked up once more, revealing a black skin tight suit under his armor. A pilot suit.

Chifuyu narrowed her eyes at his now exposed neck. It was obscured by the dark armor and suit, but she can could the toned muscle around his neck and the tensed veins pushing against his skin.

And there she saw it…A lump by his throat slightly above the middle, a part of the human body that was a prominent anterior surface of the Thyroid Cartilage; it was formally named Laryngeal Prominence…more commonly known as the Adam's Apple. It was also a common fact it belonged to the male side of the gender. Meaning…There is a man inside the IS.

The glaring fact about IS was that it could only be piloted by women.

That single fact was the reason the world was slowly turning towards women dominance. Women hold military power…No armed forced wielded by men could ever hope to overcome women in the end…That was what they were told…That was what they accepted.

"God…Tabane what have you done." Chifuyu bemoaned as her IS gave out on her. She fell to her knees and quickly disembarked the decommissioned IS.

"That…that can't be…" muttered Madoka as she stared at the knight in wonder and disbelief.

"Sister, just…Just what is IS…Did you have anything to do with this…" muttered Houki as she held on to Charlotte tightly.

Chifuyu, Madoka, and Houki who was still carrying the unconscious Charlotte and by extend Madoka carrying Laura stared in wonder as the Knight moved his hands to grab his face.

"Gaha…Gahha…Chi…Chifuyu-Nee?"

Chifuyu's eyes widened…Chifuyu-nee…Only two people ever called her that. One of them was behind her, and the other was…was…

The Knight reached out one of his hands at the girls and pointed to Chifuyu.

"C…Chi…Fuyu…."

Then at Madoka.

"Ma…Mado…Ka…chan…"

Then Houki.

"H-Houki?...You…kept the…pony…tail…"

The girls heard the mumbles of the knight…and deep in their chests they felt the thumbing beat of their hearts as they put the bits and pieces together.

"No…Way…"

The black knight traced his other hand over the scar on his helmet. The scar didn't reach his face…but it cut the metal helmet deep … deep enough to be too frail to hold itself together.

_Clank! Clanclank!_

One half of the knight's helmet fell off and crashed against the floor…exposing half of his face to the world.

"Ichi…ka?" Chifuyu breathed.

His black hair was longer than she remembered. Long and messy, it reached to his cheeks. The teenage boy under the armor had nice, handsome cheek bones, and rather pale skin. Underneath his eyes were black rings indicating great mental strain or lack of sleep, and stress. His eyes were dark with a hint of red and his face was drenched with sweat, exhaustion, and anguish.

"Nee…chan…Ma..doka…Sorry…I…took…So…long…."

The knight took another step toward his sisters with trembling arms raised to them. His heart longing and his mind clear of madness, and filled with relief…He was just happy to see them again.

**"****ICHIKA!?"**

"ONII-CHAN!"

The girls ran toward their long lost brother/childhood best friend, but before they reach him a smoke bomb was thrown at their feet and exploded, obscuring their vision.

Ichika rushed to meet them, but before he could reach them his arms were suddenly ensnared in a segment of poles like entrapping chains. One chain caught his right arm and pulled it toward his left armpit and another his left arm toward his right. From above more sets fell around his hips and legs.

"This is-Kyouko! Let me go!" he roared as a certain red haired knight held her lord down from above with several type Sabrac segment spears.

"I'm sorry boss. I'll gladly receive any punishment you give me…I'm sorry."

**"****GAAHHHHH! OOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHA!"** the black knight howled as a set of grabbling ropes caught around his neck as Shion joined the party. She tugged her steel cable hard bending Ichika low from the pressure, completely immobilizing him.

"S-Shion! NO! LET ME GO! SHION!"

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry…Forgive me Ichika-sama. I'm loyal to you, I wish for you to be happy, but if you go with them now you will only earn your mother's wrath, and…If you leave now, how can I follow you as before? Forgive me. I'm sorry…"

"YOU! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY LITTLE BROTHER!" yelled out Chifuyu, emerging from the smoke.

"We're taking him back…Back to Phantom Task."

"NOOO! I won't let you!"

But before she could do anything the silver haired girl in the Revive reached Ichika from behind and brought her twin shoulder shields around him. From behind she caught him in a bear hug and launched into the sky. Behind her Sayaka covered her back with her Aegis shield in hand.

"ONIII-CHAN!"

"ICHIKA!"

No matter how frantic the girls' cries were, Ichika was unreachable.

**"****Gaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!" **he screamed, the recent event causing him to shift back into his berserker mindset. He struggled in his restraints, but the girls braced themselves and refused to release him.

"I'm sorry. Please forgive me Ichika-sama." Shion murmured despondently as she launched out her entire storage of flash grenades and smoke bombs to cover their escape.

"Oh no you don't! I'm not done with you girls yet!" let out Tatenashi as she came charging in with her spear before she was shot down from behind by Tomoe Mami.

The final shot caused her stabilizer and flight system to malfunction and she began to fall.

"Agghh, damn it…! This is going to hurt." She muttered as she approached the ground.

Fortunately for her she was caught by a tired Yamada Maya.

"Wow! Nice catch Yama-pi!"

"Please don't call me that. Address me properly as sensei!" pouted Maya as she landed on the ground. She slowly put Tatenashi down and surveyed the area. From here and there the rescues and relief groups arrived to help the injured pilots. Hyuang Ling and Cecilia Alcott were being brought in by stretcher. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Laura Bodewig and Charlotte Dunois waking up.

"Oh…I'm glad they're okay."

"Hey, is that Orimura-sensei?" asked Sarashiki and Maya turned to where she was pointing. There stood Orimura Chifuyu staring off into the sky with wide eyes. Next to her was her sister…clinging to her and burying her face in Chifiyu's back. Next to them was Houki, on her knees in a state of disbelief.

"Orimura-sensei? We need you here to direct the relief and rescues teams. We have a lot of injured students and much structural damage. Also the principal will want to speak with you soon. Also we…Orimura-sensei?" Chifuyu was still staring at the sky, and gave no indication of hearing her.

"Orimura sensei?"

"I lost him…"

"Huh?"

"I lost him for years, then I found him…But he was taken from me again…I…I found him…and I hurt him… Ichika…I'm sorry Ichika…sorry for hurting you…for not recognizing you…I'm sorry…I'm sorry…Ichi-chan, I'm…ICHIKAAAAAAAA!" Chifuyu screamed as she was overwhelmed with panic, anger, and an endless sea of sorrow, before it became too much, and she mercifully dropped to the ground, unconscious.

* * *

HAHA! How is it? Was it good? It took a lot of effort to add all the individual scenes. I hope I can get the next chapter out soon, but that one has been stuck for month now…Ah, how troublesome. This child of mine is very difficult to raise.

REVIEW! And I shall rise again!


End file.
